PINK  AND  WHITE  TYBANNY. 


PINK   AND   WHITE 
TYRANNY. 


Society 


BY 


MRS.  HARRIET  BEECHER  STOWE, 

AUTHOR    OF    "  UNCLE    TOM'S    CABIN,"     "  THE    MINISTER'S    WOOING,"    ETC. 


"Come,  then,  the  colors  and  the  ground  prepare; 
Dip  in  the  rainbow,  trick  her  off  in  air ; 
Choose  a  firm  cloud  before  it  fall,  and  in  it 
Catch,  ere  she  change,  the  Cynthia  of  this  minute." 

POPE. 


BOSTON: 

ROBERTS      BROTHERS. 
1871. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1871,  by 

HARRIET    BEECHER   STOWE, 

In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


CAMBRIDGE: 
PRESS  OF  JOHN  WILSON  AND  SON. 


PEEFACB. 


"IV  /TY  DEAR  READER, — This  story  is  not  to  be  a  novel, 
as  the  world  understands  the  word ;  and  we  tell 
you  so  beforehand,  lest  you  be  in  ill-humor  by  not  find 
ing  what  you  expected.  For  if  you  have  been  told  that 
your  dinner  is  to  be  salmon  and  green  pease,  and  made 
up  your  mind  to  that  bill  of  fare,  and  then,  on  coming 
to  the  table,  find  that  it  is  beefsteak  and  tomatoes, 
you  may  be  out  of  sorts ;  not  because  beefsteak  and 
tomatoes  are  not  respectable  viands,  but  because  they 
are  not  what  you  have  made  up  your  mind  to  enjoy. 

Now,  a  novel,  in  our  days,  is  a  three-story  affair,  — 
a  complicated,  complex,  multiform  composition,  requir 
ing  no  end  of  scenery  and  dramatis  personce,  and  plot 
and  plan,  together  with  trap-doors,  pit-falls,  wonderful 
escapes  and  thrilling  dangers ;  and  the  scenes  transport 
one  all  over  the  earth,  —  to  England,  Italy,  Switzerland, 
Japan,  and  Kamtschatka.  But  this  is  a  little  common- 

904883 


vi  PREFACE. 

place  history,  all  about  one  man  and  one  woman,  living 
straight  along  in  one  little  prosaic  town  in  New  Eng 
land.  It  is,  moreover,  a  story  with  a  moral ;  and  for 
fear  that  you  shouldn't  find  out  exactly  what  the  moral 
is,  we  shall  adopt  the  plan  of  the  painter  who  wrote 
under  his  pictures,  "  This  is  a  bear,"  and  "  This  is  a 
turtle-dove."  We  shall  tell  you  in  the  proper  time 
succinctly  just  what  the  moral  is,  and  send  you  off 
edified  as  if  you  had  been  hearing  a  sermon.  So  please 
to  call  this  little  sketch  a  parable,  and  wait  for  the 
exposition  thereof. 


\ 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.    FALLING  IN  LOVE 1 

II.    WHAT  SHE  THINKS  OF  IT 19 

III.  THE  SISTER 31 

IV.  PREPARATION  FOR  MARRIAGE 39 

V.     WEDDING,  AND  WEDDING-TRIP 56 

VI.     HONEY-MOON,  AND  AFTER 63 

VII.     WILL  SHE  LIKE  IT  ? .  74 

VIII.    SPINDLEWOOD 86 

IX.    A  CRISIS 92 

X.     CHANGES 104 

XI.  NEWPORT;   OR,  THE  PARADISE  OF  NOTHING 

TO  DO 112 

XII.     HOME  A  LA  POMPADOUR 126 

XIII.  JOHN'S  BIRTHDAY 137 

XIV.  A  GREAT  MORAL  CONFLICT 152 

XV.       THE   FOLLINGSBEES   ARRIVE 161 

XVI.  MRS.  JOHN    SEYMOUR'S   PARTY,    AND   WHAT 

CAME   OF   IT 181 

XVII.  AFTER  THE  BATTLE 197 

XVIII.  A  BRICK  TURNS  UP   .  213 


Vlll 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

XIX.    THE  CASTLE  OF  INDOLENCE 228 

XX.    THE  VAN  ASTRACHANS 243 

XXI.  MRS.    FOLLINGSBEE'S    PARTY,    AND    WHAT 

CAME  OF  IT 250 

XXII.     THE  SPIDER-WEB  BROKEN 268 

XXIII.  COMMON-SENSE  ARGUMENTS 281 

XXIV.  SENTIMENT  v.  SENSIBILITY 284 

XXV.     WEDDING  BELLS 291 

XXVI.    MOTHERHOOD 297 

XXVII.     CHECKMATE 304 

XXVIII.     AFTER  THE  STORM 321 

XXIX.  THE  NEW  LILLIE    .  326 


PINK  AND  WHITE  TYEANNY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

FALLING  IN  LOVE. 


LlLLIE. 


"\T7HO    is  that   beautiful   creature?"  said   John 
Seymour,  as  a  light,  sylph-like  form  tripped 
1 


2  PINK  AND  WHITE   TYRANNY. 

up  the  steps  of  the  veranda  of  the  hotel  where  he  was 
lounging  away  his  summer  vacation. 

"  That !  Why,  don't  you  know,  man  ?  That  is  the 
celebrated,  the  divine  Lillie  Ellis,  the  most  adroit  '  fisher 
of  men '  that  has  been  seen  in  our  days." 

"  By  George,  but  she 's  pretty,  though ! "  said  John, 
following  with  enchanted  eyes  the  distant  motions  of 
the  sylphide. 

The  vision  that  he  saw  was  of  a  delicate  little  fairy 
form ;  a  complexion  of  pearly  white,  with  a  cheek  of 
the  hue  of  a  pink  shell ;  a  fair,  sweet,  infantine  face  sur 
rounded  by  a  fleecy  radiance  of  soft  golden  hair.  The 
vision  appeared  to  float  in  some  white  gauzy  robes; 
and,  when  she,;s|joke  or  smiled,  what  an  innocent,  fresh, 
Untouched,1  unspoiled  look  there  was  upon  the  face ! 
M>n;g^zfi;di,  and -thought  of  all  sorts  of  poetical  similes : 
of  a  "  daisy  just  wet  with  morning  dew ; "  of  a  "  violet 
by  a  mossy  stone ;  "  in  short,  of  all  the  things  that  poets 
have  made  and  provided  for  the  use  of  young  gentle 
men  in  the  way  of  falling  in  love. 

This  John  Seymour  was  about  as  good  and  honest  a 
man  as  there  is  going  in  this  world  of  ours.  He  was 
a  generous,  just,  manly,  religious  young  fellow.  He 
was  heir  to  a  large,  solid  property ;  he  was  a  well-read 
lawyer,  established  in  a  flourishing  business ;  he  was  a 
man  that  all  the  world  spoke  well  of,  and  had  cause  to 
speak  well  of.  The  only  duty  to  society  which  John 
had  left  as  yet  unperformed  was  that  of  matrimony. 
Three  and  thirty  years  had  passed ;  and,  with  every 
advantage  for  supporting  a  wife,  with  a  charming  home 


FALLING  IN  LOVE.  3 

all  ready  for  a  mistress,  John,  as  yet,  had  not  proposed 
to  be  the  defender  and  provider  for  any  of  the  more 
helpless  portion  of  creation.  The  cause  of  this  was,  in 
the  first  place,  that  John  was  very  happy  in  the  society 
of  a  sister,  a  little  older  than  himself,  who  managed  his 
house  admirably,  and  was  a  charming  companion  to  his 
leisure  hours ;  and,  in  the  second  place,  that  he  had  a 
secret,  bashful  self-depreciation  in  regard  to  his  power 
of  pleasing  women,  which  made  him  ill  at  ease  in  their 
society.  Not  that  he  did  not  mean  to  marry.  He 
certainly  did.  But  the  fair  being  that  he  was  to  marry 
was  a  distant  ideal,  a  certain  undefined  and  cloudlike 
creature ;  and,  up  to  this  time,  he  had  been  waiting  to 
meet  her,  without  taking  any  definite  steps  towards 
that  end.  To  say  the  truth,  John  Seymour,  like  many 
other  outwardly  solid,  sober-minded,  respectable  citizens, 
had  deep  within  himself  a  little  private  bit  of  romance. 
He  could  not  utter  it,  he  never  talked  it;  he  would 
have  blushed  and  stammered  and  stuttered  wofully, 
and  made  a  very  poor  figure,  in  trying  to  tell  any  one 
about  it;  but  nevertheless  it  was  there,  a  secluded 
chamber  of  imagery,  and  the  future  Mrs.  John  Sey 
mour  formed  its  principal  ornament. 

The  wife  that  John  had  imaged,  his  dream-wife,  was   < 
not  at  all  like  his  sister;   though  he  loved  his  sister 
heartily,  and  thought  her  one  of  the  best  and  noblest 
women  that  could  possibly  be. 

But  his  sister  was  all  plain  prose,  —  good,  strong, 
earnest,  respectable  prose,  it  is  true,  but  yet  prose.  He 
could  read  English  history  with  her,  talk  accounts  and 


4  PINK  AND    WHITE  TYRANNY. 

business  with  her,  discuss  politics  with  her,  and  valued 
her  opinions  on  all  these  topics  as  much  as  that  of  any 
man  of  his  acquaintance.  But,  with  the  visionary  Mrs. 
John  Seymour  aforesaid,  he  never  seemed  to  himself  to 
be  either  reading  history  or  settling  accounts,  or  talk 
ing  politics ;  he  was  off  with  her  in  some  sort  of  en 
chanted  cloudland  of  happiness,  where  she  was  all  to 
him,  and  he  to  her,  —  a  sort  of  rapture  of  protective  love 
on  one  side,  and  of  confiding  devotion  on  the  other, 
quite  inexpressible,  and  that  John  would  not  have 
talked  of  for  the  world. 

So  when  he  saw  this  distant  vision  of  airy  gauzes,  of 
pearly  whiteness,  of  sea-shell  pink,  of  infantine  smiles, 
and  waving,  golden  curls,  he  stood  up  with  a  shy  desire 
to  approach  the  wonderful  creature,  and  yet  with  a 
sort  of  embarrassed  feeling  of  being  very  awkward  and 
clumsy.  He  felt,  somehow,  as  if  he  were  a  great,  coarse 
behemoth ;  his  arms  seemed  to  him  awkward  append 
ages  ;  his  hands  suddenly  appeared  to  him  rough,  and 
his  fingers  swelled  and  stumpy.  When  he  thought  of 
asking  an  introduction,  he  felt  himself  growing  very 
hot,  and  blushing  to  the  roots  of  his  hair. 

"Want  to  be  introduced  to  her,  Seymour?"  said 
Carryl  Ethridge.  "  I  '11  trot  you  up.  I  know  her." 

"  No,  thank  you,"  said  John,  stiffly.  In  his  heart,  he 
felt  an  absurd  anger  at  Carryl  for  the  easy,  assured 
way  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  sacred  creature  who 
seemed  to  him  something  too  divine  to  be  lightly 
talked  of.  And  then  he  saw  Carryl  marching  up  to 
her  with  his  air  of  easy  assurance.  He  saw  the  be- 


FALLING  IN  LOVE.  5 

witching  smile  come  over  that  fair,  flowery  face ;  he 
saw  Carryl,  with  unabashed  familiarity,  take  her  fan 
out  of  her  hand,  look  at  it  as  if  it  were  a  mere 
common,  earthly  fan,  toss  it  about,  and  pretend  to  fan 
himself  with  it. 


1 1  didn't  know  he  was  such  a  puppy 


6  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

"  I  didn't  know  he  was  such  a  puppy ! "  said  John  to 
himself,  as  he  stood  in  a  sort  of  angry  bashfulness, 
envying  the  man  that  was  so  familiar  with  that  loveli 
ness. 

Ah!  John,  John!  You  wouldn't,  for  the  world, 
have  told  to  man  or  woman  what  a  fool  you  were  at 
that  moment. 

"  What  a  fool  I  am ! "  was  his  mental  commentary : 
"just  as  if  it  was  any  thing  to  me."  And  he  turned, 
and  walked  to  the  other  end  of  the  veranda. 

"  I  think  you  Ve  hooked  another  fish,  Lillie,"  said 
Belle  Trevors  in  the  ear  of  the  little  divinity. 

«  Who  .  .  .  ?  " 

"  Why !  that  Seymour  there,  at  the  end  of  the  ve 
randa.  He  is  looking  at  you,  do  you  know?  He  is 
rich,  very  rich,  and  of  an  old  family.  Didn't  you  see 
how  he  started  and  looked  after  you  when  you  came  up 
on  the  veranda  ?  " 

"  Oh !  I  saw  plain  enough,"  said  the  divinity,  with 
one  of  her  unconscious,  baby-like  smiles. 

"What  are  you  ladies  talking?"  said  Carryl  Eth- 
ridge. 

"  Oh,  secrets !  "  said  Belle  Trevors.  "  You  are  very 
presuming,  sir,  to  inquire." 

"  Mr.  Ethridge,"  said  Lillie  Ellis,  "  don't  you  think  it 
would  be  nice  to  promenade  ?  " 

This  was  said  with  such  a  pretty  coolness,  such  a 
quiet  composure,  as  showed  Miss  Lillie  to  be  quite  mis 
tress  of  the  situation ;  there  was,  of  course,  no  sort  of 
design  in  it. 


FALLING  IN  LOVE.  7 

Ethridge  offered  his  arm  at  once ;  and  the  two  saun 
tered  to  the  end  of  the  veranda,  where  John  Seymour 
was  standing. 

The  blood  rushed  in  hot  currents  over  him,  and  he 
could  hear  the  beating  of  his  heart :  he  felt  somehow  as 
if  the  hour  of  his  fate  was  coming.  He  had  a  wild 
desire  to  retreat,  and  put  it  off.  He  looked  over  the 
end  of  the  veranda,  with  some  vague  idea  of  leaping  it ; 
but  alas !  it  was  ten  feet  above  ground,  and  a  lover's  leap 
would  have  only  ticketed  him  as  out  of  his  head.  There 
was  nothing  for  it  but  to  meet  his  destiny  like  a  man. 

Carryl  came  up  with  the  lady  on  his  arm ;  and  as  he 
stood  there  for  a  moment,  in  the  coolest,  most  indifferent 
tone  in  the  world,  said,  "  Oh !  by  the  by,  Miss  Ellis,  let 
me  present  my  friend  Mr.  Seymour." 


"  Let  me  present  my  friend,  Mr.  Seymour.' 


8  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

The  die  was  cast. 

John's  face  burned  like  fire :  he  muttered  something 
about  "  being  happy  to  make  Miss  Ellis's  acquaintance," 
looking  all  the  time  as  if  he  would  be  glad  to  jump 
over  the  railing,  or  take  wings  and  fly,  to  get  rid  of 
the  happiness. 

Miss  Ellis  was  a  belle  by  profession,  and  she  under 
stood  her  business  perfectly.  In  nothing  did  she  show 
herself  master  of  her  craft,  more  than  in  the  adroitness 
with  which  she  could  soothe  the  bashful  pangs  of  new 
votaries,  and  place  them  on  an  easy  footing  with  her. 

"Mr.  Seymour,"  she  said  affably,  "to  tell  the  truth,  I 
have  been  desirous  of  the  honor  of  your  acquaintance, 
ever  since  I  saw  you  in  the  breakfast-room  this  morning." 

"I  am  sure  I  am  very  much  flattered,"  said  John,  his 
heart  beating  thick  and  fast.  "May  I  ask  why  you 
honor  me  with  such  a  wish  ?  " 

"  Well,  to  tell  the  truth,  because  you  strikingly  resem 
ble  a  very  dear  friend  of  mine,"  said  Miss  Ellis,  with 
her  sweet,  unconscious  simplicity  of  manner. 

"  I  am  still  more  flattered,"  said  John,  with  a  quicker 
beating  of  the  heart ;  "  only  I  fear  that  you  may  find  me 
an  unpleasant  contrast." 

"Oh!  I  think  not,"  said  Lillie,  with  another  smile: 
"  we  shall  soon  be  good  friends,  too,  I  trust." 

"  I  trust  so  certainly,"  said  John,  earnestly. 

Belle  Trevors  now  joined  the  party;  and  the  four 
were  soon  chatting  together  on  the  best  footing  of 
acquaintance.  John  was  delighted  to  feel  himself 
already  on  easy  terms  with  the  fair  vision. 


FALLING  IN  LOVE.  9 

"  You  have  not  been  here  long  ?  "  said  Lillie  to  John. 

"No,  I  have  only  just  arrived." 

"  And  you  were  never  here  before  ? " 

"  No,  Miss  Ellis,  I  am  entirely  new  to  the  place." 

"I  am  an  old  habituee  here,"  said  Lillie,  "and  can 
recommend  myself  as  authority  on  all  points  connected 
with  it." 

"  Then,"  said  John,  "  I  hope  you  will  take  me  under 
your  tuition." 

"  Certainly,  free  of  charge,"  she  said,  with  another 
ravishing  smile. 

"You  haven't  seen  the  boiling  spring  yet?"  she 
added. 

"No,  I  haven't  seen  any  thing  yet." 

"  Well,  then,  if  you  '11  give  me  your  arm  across  the 
lawn,  I  '11  show  it  to  you." 

All  of  this  was  done  in  the  easiest,  most  matter-of- 
course  manner  in  the  world ;  and  off  they  started,  John 
in  a  flutter  of  flattered  delight  at  the  gracious  accept 
ance  accorded  to  him. 

Ethridge  and  Belle  Trevors  looked  after  them  with  a 
nod  of  intelligence  at  each  other. 

"  Hooked,  by  George ! "  said  Ethridge. 

"  Well,  it  '11  be  a  good  thing  for  Lillie,  won't  it  ?  " 

"  For  her  ?     Oh,  yes,  a  capital  thing  for  her  !  " 

"  Well,  for  him  too." 

"  Well,  I  don't  know.  John  is  a  pretty  nice  fellow ; 
a  very  nice  fellow,  besides  being  rich,  and  all  that ;  and 
Lillie  is  somewhat  shop-worn  by  this  time.  Let  me 
see :  she  must  be  seven  and  twenty." 


10  PINK  AND    WHITE    TYRANNY. 

"  Oh,  yes,  she 's  all  that ! "  said  Belle,  with  ingenuous 
ardor.  "  Why,  she  was  in  society  while  I  was  a  school 
girl  !  Yes,  dear  Lillie  is  certainly  twenty-seven,  if  not 
more ;  but  she  keeps  her  freshness  wonderfully." 

"  Well,  she  looks  fresh  enough,  I  suppose,  to  a  good, 
honest,  artless  fellow  like  John  Seymour,  who  knows  as 
little  of  the  world  as  a  milkmaid.  John  is  a  great,  inno 
cent,  country  steer,  fed  on  clover  and  dew ;  and  as  honest 
and  ignorant  of  all  sorts  of  naughty,  wicked  things  as 
his  mother  or  sister.  He  takes  Lillie  in  a  sacred  simplic 
ity  quite  refreshing ;  but  to  me  Lillie  is  played  out.  I 
know  her  like  a  book.  I  know  all  her  smiles  and  wiles, 
advices  and  devices ;  and  her  system  of  tactics  is  an  old 
story  with  me.  I  shan't  interrupt  any  of  her  little 
games.  Let  her  have  her  little  field  all  to  herself:  it 's 
time  she  was  married,  to  be  sure." 

Meanwhile,  John  was  being  charmingly  ciceroned  by 
Lillie,  and  scarcely  knew  whether  he  was  in  the  body  or 
out.  All  that  he  felt,  and  felt  with  a  sort  of  wonder, 
was  that  he  seemed  to  be  acceptable  and  pleasing  in  the 
eyes  of  this  little  fairy,  and  that  she  was  leading  him 
into  wonderland. 

They  went  not  only  to  the  boiling  spring,  but  up  and 
down  so  many  wild,  woodland  paths  that  had  been  cut 
for  the  adornment  of  the  Carmel  Springs,  and  so  well 
pleased  were  both  parties,  that  it  was  supper-time  before 
they  reappeared  on  the  lawn ;  and,  when  they  did 
appear,  Lillie  was  leaning  confidentially  on  John's  arm, 
with  a  wreath  of  woodbine  in  her  hair  that  he  had 
arranged  there,  wondering  all  the  while  at  his  own 


FALLING   IN  LOVE. 


11 


"  Lillie  was  leaning  confidentially  on  John's  arm." 

wonderful  boldness,  and  at  the  grace  of  the  fair  enter 
tainer. 

The  returning  couple  were  seen  from  the  windows 
of  Mrs.  Chit,  who  sat  on  the  lookout  for  useful  infor 
mation;  and  who  forthwith  ran  to  the  apartments  of 
Mrs.  Chat,  and  told  her  to  look  out  at  them. 

Billy  This,  who  was  smoking  his  cigar  on  the  veranda, 
immediately  ran  and  called  Harry  That  to  look  at 
them,  and  laid  a  bet  at  once  that  Lillie  had  "hooked" 
Seymour. 

"  She  '11  have  him,  by  George,  she  will ! " 

"Oh,  pshaw!  she  is  always  hooking  fellows,  but  you 
see  she  don't  get  married,"  said  matter-of-fact  Harry. 


12  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

"It  won't  come  to  any  thing,  now,  I'll  bet.  Every 
body  said  she  was  engaged  to  Danforth,  but  it  all  ended 
in  smoke." 

Whether  it  would  be  an  engagement,  or  would  all 
end  in  smoke,  was  the  talk  of  Carmel  Springs  for  the 
next  two  weeks. 

At  the  end  of  that  time,  the  mind  of  Carmel  Springs 
was  relieved  by  the  announcement  that  it  was  an 
engagement. 

The  important  deciding  announcement  was  first 
authentically  made  by  Lillie  to  Belle  Trevors,  who  had 
been  invited  into  her  room  that  night  for  the  pur 
pose. 

"  "Well,  Belle,  it 's  all  over.     He  spoke  out  to-night." 

"He  offered  himself?" 

"  Certainly." 

"  And  you  took  him  ?  " 

"  Of  course  I  did :  I  should  be  a  fool  not  to." 

"  Oh,  so  I  think,  decidedly ! "  said  Belle,  kissing  her 
friend  in  a  rapture.  "You  dear  creature!  how  nice! 
it 's  splendid  !  " 

Lillie  took  the  embrace  with  her  usual  sweet  com 
posure,  and  turned  to  her  looking-glass,  and  began  tak 
ing  down  her  hair  for  the  night.  It  will  be  perceived 
that  this  young  lady  was  not  overcome  with  emotion, 
but  in  a  perfectly  collected  state  of  mind. 

"  He  's  a  little  bald,  and  getting  rather  stout,"  she 
said  reflectively,  "  but  he  '11  do." 

"  I  never  saw  a  creature  so  dead  in  love  as  he  is," 
said  Belle. 


FALLING  IN  LOVE. 


13 


K 


A  quiet  smile  passed  over  the  soft,  peach-blow  cheeks 
as  Lillie  answered,  — 

"  Oh,  dear,  yes !  He  perfectly  worships  the  ground 
I  tread  on." 

"  Lil,  you  fortunate  creature,  you !  Positively  it 's 
the  best  match  that  there  has  been  about  here  this  sum 
mer.  He 's  rich,  of  an  old,  respectable  family ;  and  then 
he  has  good  principles, '  you  know,  and  all  that,"  said 
Belle. 

"  I  think  he 's  nice  myself,"  said  Lillie,  as  she  stood 
brushing  out  a  golden  tangle  of  curls.  "Dear  me!" 
she  added,  "how 
much  better  he  is 
than  that  Dan- 
forth!  Really, 
Danforth  was  a 
little  too  horrid : 
his  teeth  were 
dreadful.  Do  you 
know,  I  should 
have  had  some 
thing  of  a  strug 
gle  to  take  him, 
though  he  was  so 

terribly      rich?  «•  I 'think  he's  nice  myself." 

Then  Danforth  had  been  horridly  dissipated,  —  you 
don't  know,  —  Maria  Sanford  told  me  such  shocking 
things  about  him,  and  she  knows  they  are  true.  Now, 
I  don't  think  John  has  ever  been  dissipated." 

"  Oh,  no !  "  said  Belle.     "  I  heard  all  about  him.    He 


14  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

joined  the  church  when  he  was  only  twenty,  and  has 
been  always  spoken  of  as  a  perfect  model.  I  only  think 
you  may  find  it  a  little  slow,  living  in  Springdale.  He 
has  a  fine,  large,  old-fashioned  house  there,  and  his  sister 
is  a  very  nice  woman  ;  but  they  are  a  sort  of  respectable, 
retired  set,  —  never  go  into  fashionable  company." 

"  Oh,  I  don't  mind  it ! "  said  Lillie.  "  I  shall  have 
things  my  own  way,  I  know.  One  isn't  obliged  to  live 
in  Springdale,  nor  with  pokey  old  sisters,  you  know ; 
and  John  will  do  just  as  I  say,  and  live  where  I 
please." 

She  said  this  with  her  simple,  soft  air  of  perfect  as 
surance,  twisting  her  shower  of  bright,  golden  curls ; 
with  her  gentle,  childlike  face,  and  soft,  beseeching, 
blue  eyes,  and  dimpling  little  mouth,  looking  back  on 
her,  out  of  the  mirror.  By  these  the  little  queen  had 
always  ruled  from  her  cradle,  and  should  she  not  rule 
now  ?  Was  it  any  wonder  that  John  was  half  out  of 
his  wits  with  joy  at  thought  of  possessing  her?  Sim 
ply  and  honestly,  she  thought  not.  He  was  to  be 
congratulated;  though  it  wasn't  a  bad  thing  for  her, 
either. 

"  Belle,"  said  Lillie,  after  an  interval  of  reflection, 
"  I  won't  be  married  in  white  satin,  —  that  I  'm  resolved 
on.  Now,"  she  said,  facing  round  with  increasing  ear 
nestness,  "there  have  been  five  weddings  in  our  set, 
and  all  the  girls  have  been  married  in  just  the  same 
dress,  —  white  satin  and  point  lace,  white  satin  and 
point  lace,  over  and  over,  till  I  'm  tired  of  it.  Pm 
determined  I'll  have  something  new." 


FALLING  IN  LOVE.  15 

"  Well,  I  would,  I  'm  sure,"  said  Belle.  "  Say  white 
tulle,  for  instance  :  you  know  you  are  so  petite  and  fairy- 
like." 

"  No :  I  shall  write  out  to  Madame  La  Roche,  and 
tell  her  she  must  get  up  something  Avholly  original.  I 
shall  send  for  my  whole  trousseau.  Papa  will  be  glad 
enough  to  come  down,  since  he  gets  me  off  his  hands, 
and  no  more  fuss  about  bills,  you  know.  Do  you  know, 
Belle,  that  creature  is  just  wild  about  me  :  he  'd  like  to 
ransack  all  the  jewellers'  shops  in  New  York  for  me. 
He's  going  up  to-morrow,  just  to  choose  the  engage 
ment  ring.  He  says  he  can't  trust  to  an  order  ;  that  he 
must  go  and  choose  one  worthy  of  me." 

"  Oh  !  it 's  plain  enough  that  that  game  is  all  in  your 
hands,  as  to  him,  Lillie ;  but,  Lil,  what  will  your  Cousin 
Harry  say  to  all  this  ?  " 

"  Well,  of  course  ho  won't  like  it ;  but  I  can't  help  it 
if  he  don't.  Harry  ought  to  know  that  it 's  all  non 
sense  for  him  and  me  to  think  of  marrying.  He  does 
know  it." 

"  To  tell  the  truth,  I  always  thought,  Lil,  you  were 
more  in  love  with  Harry  than  anybody  you  ever  knew." 

Lillie  laughed  a  little,  and  then  the  prettiest  sweet- 
pea  flush  deepened  the  pink  of  her  cheeks. 

"  To  say  the  truth,  Belle,  I  could  have  been,  if  he 
had  been  in  circumstances  to  marry.  But,  you  see,  I 
am  one  of  those  to  whom  the  luxuries  are  essential.  I 
never  could  rub  and  scrub  and  work ;  in  fact,  I  had 
rather  not  live  at  all  than  live  poor ;  and  Harry  is  poor, 
and  he  always  will  be  poor.  It 's  a  pity,  too,  poor  fel- 


16  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

low,  for  he 's  nice.  Well,  he  is  off  in  India !  I  know 
he  will  be  tragical  and  gloomy,  and  all  that,"  she  said ; 
and  then  the  soft  child-face  smiled  to  itself  in  the 
glass,  —  such  a  pretty  little  innocent  smile ! 

All  this  while,  John  sat  up  with  his  heart  beating 
very  fast,  writing  all  about  his  engagement  to  his 
sister,  and,  up  to  this  point,  his  nearest,  dearest,  most 
confidential  friend.  It  is  almost  too  bad  to  copy  the 
letter  of  a  shy  man  who  finds  himself  in  love  for  the 
first  time  in  his  life ;  but  we  venture  to  make  an  ex 
tract  :  — 

"  It  is  not  her  beauty  merely  that  drew  me  to  her, 
though  she  is  the  most  beautiful  human  being  I  ever 
saw :  it  is  the  exquisite  feminine  softness  and  delicacy 
of  her  character,  that  sympathetic  pliability  by  which 
she  adapts  herself  to  every  varying  feeling  of  the  heart. 
You,  my  dear  sister,  are  the  noblest  of  women,  and 
your  place  in  my  heart  is  still  what  it  always  was  ;  but 
I  feel  that  this  dear  little  creature,  while  she  fills  a 
place  no  other  has  ever  entered,  will  yet  be  a  new  bond 
to  unite  us.  She  will  love  us  both  ;  she  will  gradually 
come  into  all  our  ways  and  opinions,  and  be  insensibly 
formed  by  us  into  a  noble  womanhood.  Her  extreme 
beauty,  and  the  great  admiration  that  has  always  fol 
lowed  her,  have  exposed  her  to  many  temptations,  and 
caused  most  ungenerous  things  to  be  said  of  her. 

"Hitherto  she  has  lived  only  in  the  fashionable 
world ;  and  her  literary  and  domestic  education,  as  she 
herself  is  sensible,  has  been  somewhat  neglected. 


FALLING  IN  LOVE.  17 

"  But  she  longs  to  retire  from  all  this ;  she  is  sick  of 
fashionable  folly,  and  will  come  to  us  to  be  all  our 
own.  Gradually  the  charming  circle  of  cultivated 
families  which  form  our  society  will  elevate  her  taste, 
and  form  her  mind. 

"  Love  is  woman's  inspiration,  and  love  will  lead  her 
to  all  that  is  noble  and  good.  My  dear  sister,  think 
not  that  any  new  ties  are  going  to  make  you  any  less 
to  me,  or  touch  your  place  in  my  heart.  I  have  already 
spoken  of  you  to  Lillie,  and  she  longs  to  know  you. 
You  must  be  to  her  what  you  have  always  been  to  me, 
—  guide,  philosopher,  and  friend. 

"  I  am  sure  I  never  felt  better  impulses,  more  humble, 
more  thankful,  more  religious,  than  I  do  now.  That 
the  happiness  of  this  soft,  gentle,  fragile  creature  is  to 
be  henceforth  in  my  hands  is  to  me  a  solemn  and  in 
spiring  thought.  What  man  is  worthy  of  a  refined, 
delicate  woman  ?  I  feel  my  unworthiness  of  her  every 
hour ;  but,  so  help  me  God,  I  shall  try  to  be  all  to  her 
that  a  husband  should;  and  you,  my  sister,  I  know, 
will  help  me  to  make  happy  the  future  which  she  so 
confidingly  trusts  to  me. 

"  Believe  me,  dear  sister,  I  never  was  so  much  your 
affectionate  brother, 

"JOHN  SEYMOUR. 

"  P.  S.  —  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  Lillie  remarkably 
resembles  the  ivory  miniature  of  our  dear  sainted 
mother.  She  was  very  much  affected  when  I  told  her 
of  it.  I  think  naturally  Lillie  has  very  much  such  a 

2 


18  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

character  as  our  mother ;  though  circumstances,  in 
her  case,  have  been  unfavorable  to  the  development 
of  it." 

Whether  the  charming  vision  was  realized ;  whether 
the  little  sovereign  now  enthroned  will  be  a  just  and 
clement  one ;  what  immunities  and  privileges  she  will 
allow  to  her  slaves,  —  is  yet  to  be  seen  in  this  story. 


CHAPTER  II. 


WHAT  SHE  THINKS  OF  IT. 


SPRINGDALE  was 
one  of  those  beau 
tiful  rural  towns  whose 
flourishing  aspect  is  a 
striking  exponent  of  the 
peculiarities  of  New- 
England  life.  The  ride 
through  it  presents  a 
refreshing  picture  of 
wide,  cool,  grassy  streets, 
overhung  with  green 
arches  of  elm,  with  rows 
of  large,  handsome 
houses  on  either  side, 
each  standing  back  from 
the  street  in  its  own  re 
tired  square  of  gardens, 
green  turf,  shady  trees, 
and  flowering  shrubs.  It 
was,  so  to  speak,  a  little 
city  of  country-seats.  It 
spoke  of  wealth,  thrift, 


"  From  John,  good  fellow.' 

leisure,    cultivation, 


quiet, 


thoughtful  habits,  and  moral  tastes. 


20  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Some  of  these  mansions  were  of  ancestral  reputation, 
and  had  been  in  the  family  whose  name  they  bore  for 
generations  back ;  a  circumstance  sometimes  occurring 
even  in  New-England  towns  where  neither  law  nor 
custom  unites  to  perpetuate  property  in  certain  family 
lines. 

The  Seymour  house  was  a  well-known,  respected 
mansion  for  generations  back.  Old  Judge  Seymour, 
the  grandfather,  was  the  lineal  descendant  of  Parson 
Seymour;  the  pastor  who  first  came  with  the  little 
colony  of  Springdale,  when  it  was  founded  as  a  church 
in  the  wilderness,  amid  all  the  dangers  of  wild  beasts 
and  Indians. 

This  present  Seymour  mansion  was  founded  on  the 
spot  where  the  house  of  the  first  minister  was  built  by 
the  active  hands  of  his  parishioners ;  and,  from  genera 
tion  to  generation,  order,  piety,  education,  and  high 
respectability  had  been  the  tradition  of  the  place. 

The  reader  will  come  in  with  us,  on  this  bright  June 
morning,  through  the  grassy  front  yard,  which  has 
only  the  usual  New-England  fault  of  being  too  densely 
shaded.  The  house  we  enter  has  a  wide,  cool  hall  run 
ning  through  its  centre  and  out  into  a  back  garden, 
now  all  aglow  with  every  beauty  of  June.  The  broad 
alleys  of  the  garden  showed  bright  stores  of  all  sorts 
of  good  old-fashioned  flowers,  well  tended  and  kept. 
Clumps  of  stately  hollyhocks  and  scarlet  peonies; 
roses  of  every  hue,  purple,  blush,  gold-color,  and 
white,  were  showering  down  their  leaves  on  the  grassy 
turf;  honeysuckles  climbed  and  clambered  over  arbors ; 


WHAT  SHE   THINKS   OF  IT.  21 

and  great,  stately  tufts  of  virgin-white  lilies  exalted 
their  majestic  heads  in  saintly  magnificence.  The 
garden  was  Miss  Grace  Seymour's  delight  and  pride. 
Every  root  in  it  was  fragrant  with  the  invisible  blos 
soms  of  memory,  —  memories  of  the  mother  who  loved 
and  planted  and  watched  them  before  her,  and  the 
grandmother  who  had  cared  for  them  before  that. 
The  spirit  of  these  charming  old-fashioned  gardens  is 
the  spirit  of  family  love ;  and,  if  ever  blessed  souls 
from  their  better  home  feel  drawn  back  to  any  thing  on 
earth,  we  think  it  must  be  to  their  flower-garden. 

Miss  Grace  had  been  up  early,  and  now,  with  her 
garden  hat  on,  and  scissors  in  hand,  was  coming  up  the 
steps  with  her  white  apron  full  of  roses,  white  lilies, 
meadow-sweets,  and  honeysuckle,  for  the  parlor- vases, 
when  the  servant  handed  her  a  letter. 

"  From  John,"  she  said,  "  good  fellow ;  "  and  then  she 
laid  it  on  the  mantel-shelf  of  the  parlor,  while  she 
busied  herself  in  arranging  her  flowers. 

"  I  must  get  these  into  water,  or  they  will  wilt,"  she 
said. 

The  large  parlor  was  like  many  that  you  and  I  have 
seen  in  a  certain  respectable  class  of  houses,  —  wide, 
cool,  shady,  and  with  a  mellow  old  tone  to  every  thing 
in  its  furniture  and  belongings.  It  was  a  parlor  of  the 
past,  and  not  of  to-day,  yet  exquisitely  neat  and  well- 
kept.  The  Turkey  carpet  was  faded :  it  had  been  part 
of  the  wedding  furnishing  of  Grace's  mother,  years  ago. 
The  great,  wide,  motherly,  chintz-covered  sofa,  which 
filled  a  recess  commanding  the  window,  was  as  different 


22  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

as  possible  from  any  smart  modern  article  of  the  name. 
The  heavy,  claw-footed,  mahogany  chairs;  the  tall 
clock  that  ticked  in  one  corner;  the  footstools  and 
ottomans  in  faded  embroidery,  —  all  spoke  of  days 
past.  So  did  the  portraits  on  the  wall.  One  was  of  a 
fair,  rosy  young  girl,  in  a  white  gown,  with  powdered 
hair  dressed  high  over  a  cushion.  It  was  the  portrait 
of  Grace's  mother.  Another  was  that  of  a  minister  in 
gown  and  bands,  with  black-silk  gloved  hands  holding 
up  conspicuously  a  large  Bible.  This  was  the  remote 
ancestor,  the  minister.  Then  there  was  the  picture  of 
John's  father,  placed  lovingly  where  the  eyes  seemed 
always  to  be  following  the  slight,  white-robed  figure  of 
the  young  wife.  The  walls  were  papered  with  an  old- 
fashioned  paper  of  a  peculiar  pattern,  bought  in  France 
seventy-five  years  before.  The  vases  of  India-china 
that  adorned  the  mantels,  the  framed  engravings  of 
architecture  and  pictures  in  Rome,  all  were  memo 
rials  of  the  taste  of  those  long  passed  away.  Yet  the 
room  had  a  fresh,  sweet,  sociable  air.  The  roses  and 
honeysuckles  looked  in  at  the  windows ;  the  table 
covered  with  books  and  magazines,  and  the  familiar 
work-basket  of  Miss  Grace,  with  its  work,  gave  a  sort 
of  impression  of  modern  family  household  life.  It 
was  a  wide,  open,  hospitable,  generous-minded  room, 
that  seemed  to  breathe  a  fragrance  of  invitation  and 
general  sociability ;  it  was  a  room  full  of  associations 
and  memories,  and  its  daily  arrangement  and  orna 
mentation  made  one  of  the  pleasant  tasks  of  Miss 
Grace's  life. 


WHAT  SHE   THINKS   OF  IT.  23 

She  spread  down  a  newspaper  on  the  large,  square 
centre-table,  and,  emptying  her  apronful  of  flowers 
upon  it,  took  her  vases  from  the  shelf,  and  with  her 
scissors  sat  down  to  the  task  of  clipping  and  arranging 
them. 

Just  then  Letitia  Ferguson  came  across  the  garden, 
and  entered  the  back  door  after  her,  with  a  knot  of 
choice  roses  in  her  hand,  and  a  plate  of  seed-cakes 
covered  with  a  hem-stitched  napkin.  The  Fergusons 
and  the  Seymours  occupied  adjoining  houses,  and  were 
on  footing  of  the  most  perfect  undress  intimacy.  They 
crossed  each  other's  gardens,  and  came  without  knock 
ing  into  each  other's  doors  twenty  times  a  day,  apropos 
to  any  bit  of  chit-chat  that  they  might  have,  a  question 
to  ask,  a  passage  in  a  book  to  show,  a  household  receipt 
that  they  had  been  trying.  Letitia  was  the  most 
intimate  and  confidential  friend  of  Grace.  In  fact,  the 
whole  Ferguson  family  seemed  like  another  portion  of 
the  Seymour  family.  There  were  two  daughters,  of 
whom  Letitia  was  the  eldest.  Then  came  the  younger 
Rose,  a  nice,  charming,  well-informed,  good  girl,  always 
cheerful  and  chatty,  and  with  a  decent  share  of  ability 
at  talking  lively  nonsense.  The  brothers  of  the  family, 
like  the  young  men  of  New-England  country  towns 
generally,  were  off  in  the  world  seeking  their  fortunes. 
Old  Judge  Ferguson  was  a  gentleman  of  the  old 
school,  —  formal,  stately,  polite,  always  complimentary 
to  ladies,  and  with  a  pleasant  little  budget  of  old- 
gentlemanly  hobbies  and  prejudices,  which  it  afforded 
him  the  greatest  pleasure  to  air  in  the  society  of  his 


24  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

friends.  Old  Mrs.  Ferguson  was  a  pattern  of  mother- 
liness,  with  her  quaint,  old-fashioned  dress,  her  elaborate 
caps,  her  daily  and  minute  inquiries  after  the  health  of 
all  her  acquaintances,  and  the  tender  pityingness  of  her 
nature  for  every  thing  that  lived  and  breathed  in  this 
world  of  sin  and  sorrow. 

Letitia  and  Grace,  as  two  older  sisters  of  families, 
had  a  peculiar  intimacy,  and  discussed  every  thing  to 
gether,  from  the  mode  of  clearing  jelly  up  to  the 
profoundest  problems  of  science  and  morals.  They 
were  both  charming,  well-mannered,  well-educated, 
well-read  women,  and  trusted  each  other  to  the  utter 
most  with  every  thought  and  feeling  and  purpose  of 
their  hearts. 

As  we  have  said,  Letitia  Ferguson  came  in  at  the 
back  door  without  knocking,  and,  coming  softly  behind 
Miss  Grace,  laid  down  her  bunch  of  roses  among  the 
flowers,  and  then  set  down  her  plate  of  seed-cakes. 

Then  she  said,  "  I  brought  you  some  specimens  of 
my  Souvenir  de  Malmaison  bush,  and  my  first  trial  of 
your  receipt." 

"  Oh,  thanks ! "  said  Miss  Grace :  "  how  charming  those 
roses  are !  It  was  too  bad  to  spoil  your  bush,  though." 

"  No :  it  does  it  good  to  cut  them ;  it  will  flower  all 
the  more.  But  try  one  of  those  cakes,  —  are  they 
right?" 

"Excellent!  you  have  hit  it  exactly,"  said  Grace; 
"  exactly  the  right  proportion  of  seeds.  I  was  hurry 
ing,"  she  added,  "  to  get  these  flowers  in  water,  because 
a  letter  from  John  is  waiting  to  be  read." 


WHAT  SHE   THINKS   OF  IT.  25 

"  A  letter !  How  nice !  "  said  Miss  Letitia,  looking 
towards  the  shelf.  "John  is  as  faithful  in  writing  as  if 
he  were  your  lover." 

"  He  is  the  best  lover  a  woman  can  have,"  said  Grace, 
as  she  busily  sorted  and  arranged  the  flowers.  "For 
my  part,  I  ask  nothing  better  than  John." 

"  Let  me  arrange  for  you,  while  you  read  your  letter," 
said  Letitia,  taking  the  flowers  from  her  friend's  hands. 

Miss  Grace  took  down  the  letter  from  the  mantel 
piece,  opened,  and  began  to  read  it.  Miss  Letitia, 
meanwhile,  watched  her  face,  as  we  often  carelessly 
watch  the  face  of  a  person  reading  a  letter. 

Miss  Grace  was  not  technically  handsome,  but  she 
had  an  interesting,  kindly,  sincere  face;  and  her  friend 
saw  gradually  a  dark  cloud  rising  over  it,  as  one 
watches  a  shadow  on  a  field. 

When  she  had  finished  the  letter,  with  a  sudden 
movement  she  laid  her  head  forward  on  the  table 
among  the  flowers,  and  covered  her  face  with  her 
hands.  She  seemed  not  to  remember  that  any  one 
was  present. 

Letitia  came  up  to  her,  and,  laying  her  hand  gently 
on  hers,  said,  «  What  is  it,  dear  ?  " 

Miss  Grace  lifted  her  head,  and  said  in  a  husky 
voice,  — 

"  Nothing,  only  it  is  so  sudden !     John  is  engaged ! " 

"  Engaged !  to  whom  ?  " 

"  To  Lillie  Ellis." 

"John  engaged  to  Lillie  Ellis?"  said  Miss  Ferguson, 
in  a  tone  of  shocked  astonishment. 


26  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 


"  She  laid  her  head  forward  on  the  table." 

"  So  he  writes  me.  He  is  completely  infatuated  by 
her." 

"How  very  sudden!"  said  Miss  Letitia.  "Who 
could  have  expected  it?  Lillie  Ellis  is  so  entirely 
out  of  the  line  of  any  of  the  women  he  has  ever 
known." 

"That's  precisely  what's  the  matter,"  said  Miss 
Grace.  "John  knows  nothing  of  any  but  good,  noble 
women ;  and  he  thinks  he  sees  all  this  in  Lillie  Ellis." 

"  There 's  nothing  to  her  but  her  wonderful  complex- 


WHAT  SHE   THINKS   OF  IT.  27 

ion,"  said  Miss  Ferguson,  "  and  her  pretty  little  coaxing 
ways;  but  she  is  the  most  utterly  selfish,  heartless 
little  creature  that  ever  breathed." 

"  Well,  she  is  to  be  John's  wife,"  said  Miss  Grace, 
sweeping  the  remainder  of  the  flowers  into  her  apron ; 
"  and  so  ends  my  life  with  John.  I  might  have  known 
it  would  come  to  this.  I  must  make  arrangements  at 
once  for  another  house  and  home.  This  house,  so 
much,  so  dear  to  me,  will  be  nothing  to  her ;  and  yet 
she  must  be  its  mistress,"  she  added,  looking  round  on 
every  thing  in  the  room,  and  then  bursting  into  tears. 

Now,  Miss  Grace  was  not  one  of  the  crying  sort,  and 
so  this  emotion  went  to  her  friend's  heart.  Miss 
Letitia  went  up  and  put  her  arms  round  her. 

"  Come,  Gracie,"  she  said,  "  you  must  not  take  it  so 
seriously.  John  is  a  noble,  manly  fellow.  He  loves 
you,  and  he  will  always  be  master  of  his  own  house." 

"  No,  he  won't,  —  no  married  man  ever  is,"  said  Miss 
Grace,  wiping  her  eyes,  and  sitting  up  very  straight. 
"  No  man,  that  is  a  gentleman,  is  ever  master  in  his 
own  house.  He  has  only  such  rights  there  as  his  wife 
chooses  to  give  him;  and  this  woman  won't  like  me, 
I  'm  sure." 

"  Perhaps  she  will,"  said  Letitia,  in  a  faltering  voice. 

"  No,  she  won't ;  because  I  have  no  faculty  for  lying, 
or  playing  the  hypocrite  in  any  way,  and  I  shan't  ap 
prove  of  her.  These  soft,  slippery,  pretty  little  fibbing 
women  have  always  been  my  abomination." 

"  Oh,  my  dear  Grace ! "  said  Miss  Ferguson,  "  do  let 
us  make  the  best  of  it." 


28  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

"I  did  think,"  said  Miss  Grace,  wiping  her  eyes, 
"  that  John  had  some  sense.  I  wasn't  such  a  fool,  nor 
so  selfish,  as  to  want  him  always  to  live  for  me.  I 
wanted  him  to  marry ;  and  if  he  had  got  engaged  to 
your  Rose,  for  instance ...  O  Letitia !  I  always  did  so 
hope  that  he  and  Rose  would  like  each  other." 

"  We  can't  choose  for  our  brothers,"  said  Miss  Letitia, 
"  and,  hard  as  it  is,  we  must  make  up  our  minds  to  love 
those  they  bring  to  us.  Who  knows  what  good  influ 
ences  may  do  for  poor  Lillie  Ellis?  She  never  has 
had  any  yet.  Her  family  are  extremely  common  sort 
of  people,  without  any  culture  or  breeding,  and  only 
her  wonderful  beauty  brought  them  into  notice;  and 
they  have  always  used  that  as  a  sort  of  stock  in 
trade." 

"  And  John  says,  in  this  letter,  that  she  reminds  him 
of  our  mother,"  said  Miss  Grace ;  "  and  he  thinks  that 
naturally  she  was  very  much  such  a  character.  Just 
think  of  that,  now  !  " 

"  He  must  be  far  gone,"  said  Miss  Ferguson ;  "  but 
then,  you  see,  she  is  distractingly  pretty.  She  has  just 
the  most  exquisitely  pearly,  pure,  delicate,  saint-like  look, 
at  times,  that  you  ever  saw;  and  then  she  knows 
exactly  how  she  does  look,  and  just  how  to  use  her 
looks  ;  and  John  can't  be  blamed  for  believing  in  her. 
I,  who  know  all  about  her,  am  sometimes  taken  in  by 
her." 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Grace,  "  Mrs.  Lennox  was  at  New 
port  last  summer  at  the  time  that  she  was  there,  and  she 
told  me  all  about  her.  I  think  her  an  artful,  unscrupu- 


WHAT  SHE   THINKS   OF  IT.  29 

lous,  unprincipled  woman,  and  her  being  made  mistress 
of  this  house  just  breaks  up  our  pleasant  sociable  life 
here.  She  has  no  literary  tastes  ;  she  does  not  care  for 
reading  or  study ;  she  won't  like  our  set  here,  and  she 
will  gradually  drive  them  from  the  house.  She  won't 
like  me,  and  she  will  want  to  alienate  John  from  me,  — 
so  there  is  just  the  situation." 

"  You  may  read  that  letter,"  added  Miss  Grace,  wiping 
her  eyes,  and  tossing  her  brother's  letter  into  Miss 
Letitia's  lap.  Miss  Letitia  took  the  letter  and  read  it. 
" Good  fellow !"  she  exclaimed  warmly,  "you  see  just 
what  I  say,  —  his  heart  is  all  with  you." 

"Oh,  John's  heart  is  all  right  enough!"  said  Miss 
Grace ;  "  and  I  don't  doubt  his  love.  He 's  the  best, 
noblest,  most  affectionate  fellow  in  the  world.  I  only 
think  he  reckons  without  his  host,  in  thinking  he  can 
keep  all  our  old  relations  unbroken,  when  he  puts  a  new 
mistress  into  the  house,  and  such  a  mistress." 

"  But  if  she  really  loves  him  "  — 

"  Pshaw !  she  don't.  That  kind  of  woman  can't  love. 
They  are  like  cats,  that  want  to  be  stroked  and  caressed, 
and  to  be  petted,  and  to  lie  soft  and  warm ;  and  they 
will  purr  to  any  one  that  will  pet  them,  —  that 's  all. 
As  for  love  that  leads  to  any  self-sacrifice,  ^they  don't  - 
begin  to  know  any  thing  about  it." 

"Grade  dear,"  said  Miss  Ferguson,  "this  sort  of 
thing  will  never  do.  If  you  meet  your  brother  in  this 
way,  you  will  throw  him  off,  and,  maybe,  make  a  fatal 
breach.  Meet  it  like  a  good  Christian,  as  you  are. 
You  know,"  she  said  gently,  "  where  we  have  a  right 


30  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

to  carry  our  troubles,  and  of  whom  we  should  ask 
guidance." 

"  Oh,  I  do  know,  'Titia  !  "  said  Miss  Grace ;  "  but  I 
am  letting  myself  be  wicked  just  a  little,  you  know,  to 
relieve  my  mind.  I  ought  to  put  myself  to  school  to 
make  the  best  of  it ;  but  it  came  on  me  so  very  sud 
denly.  Yes,"  she  added,  "I  am  going  to  take  a  course 
of  my  Bible  and  Fenelon  before  I  see  John,  — poor 
fellow." 

"  And  try  to  have  faith  for  her,"  said  Miss  Letitia. 

"Well,  I'll  try  to  have  faith,"  said  Miss  Grace  ;  "but 
I  do  trust  it  will  be  some  days  before  John  comes  down 
on  me  with  his  raptures,  —  men  in  love  are  such  fools." 

"  But,  dear  me ! "  said  Miss  Letitia,  as  her  head 
accidentally  turned  towards  the  window ;  "  who  is  this 
riding  up?  Gracie,  as  sure  as  you  live,  it  is  John 
himself!" 

"  John  himself !  "  repeated  Miss  Grace,  becoming 
pale. 

"  Now  do,  dear,  be  careful,"  said  Miss  Letitia.  "  I  '11 
just  run  out  this  back  door  and  leave  you  alone;" 
and  just  as  Miss  Letitia's  light  heels  were  heard  going 
down  the  back  steps,  John's  heavy  footsteps  were  com 
ing  up  the  front  ones. 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE   SISTER. 

GRACE  SEYMOUR  was  a  specimen  of  a  class  of 
whom  we  are  happy  to  say  New  England  pos 
sesses  a  great  many. 

She  was  a  highly  cultivated,  intelligent,  and  refined 
woman,  arrived  at  the  full  age  of  mature  womanhood 
unmarried,  and  with  no  present  thought  or  prospect  of 
marriage.  I  presume  all  my  readers,  who  are  in  a  posi 
tion  to  run  over  the  society  of  our  rural  New-England 
towns,  can  recall  to  their  minds  hundreds  of  such. 
They  are  women  too  thoughtful,  too  conscientious,  too 
delicate,  to  marry  for  any  thing  but  a  purely  personal 
affection ;  and  this  affection,  for  various  reasons,  has  not 
fallen  in  their  way. 

The  tendency  of  life  in  these  towns  is  to  throw  the 
young  men  of  the  place  into  distant  fields  of  adventure 
and  enterprise  in  the  far  Western  and  Southern  States, 
leaving  at  their  old  homes  a  population  in  which  the 
feminine  element  largely  predominates.  It  is  not,  gen 
erally  speaking,  the  most  cultivated  or  the  most  attrac 
tive  of  the  brethren  who  remain  in  the  place  where  they 


32  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

were  born.  The  ardent,  the  daring,  the  enterprising, 
are  off  to  the  ends  of  the  earth ;  and  the  choice  of  the 
sisters  who  remain  at  home  is,  therefore,  confined  to  a 
restricted  list ;  and  so  it  ends  in  these  delightful  rose- 
gardens  of  single  women  which  abound  in  New  Eng 
land,  —  women  who  remain  at  home  as  housekeepers  to 
aged  parents,  and  charming  persons  in  society ;  women 
over  whose  graces  of  conversation  and  manner  the 
married  men  in  their  vicinity  go  off  into  raptures  of 
eulogium,  which  generally  end  with,  "  Why  hasn't  that 
woman  ever  got  married  ?  " 

It  often  happens  to  such  women  to  expend  on  some 
brother  that  stock  of  hero-worship  and  devotion  which 
it  has  not  come  in  their  way  to  give  to  a  nearer  friend. 
Alas  !  it  is  building  on  a  sandy  foundation ;  for,  just  as 
the  union  of  hearts  is  complete,  the  chemical  affinity 
which  began  in  the  cradle,  and  strengthens  with  every 
year  of  life,  is  dissolved  by  the  introduction  of  that 
third  element  which  makes  of  the  brother  a  husband, 
while  the  new  combination  casts  out  the  old,  —  some 
times  with  a  disagreeable  effervescence. 

John  and  Grace  Seymour  were  two  only  children  of 
a  very  affectionate  family ;  and  they  had  grown  up  in 
the  closest  habits  of  intimacy.  They  had  written  to 
each  other  those  long  letters  in  which  thoughtful  people 
who  live  in  retired  situations  delight;  letters  not  of 
outward  events,  but  of  sentiments  and  opinions,  the 
phases  of  the  inner  life.  They  had  studied  and  pursued 
courses  of  reading  together.  They  had  together  organ 
ized  and  carried  on  works  of  benevolence  and  charity. 


THE   SISTER.  33 

The  brother  and  sister  had  been  left  joint  heirs  of  a 
large  manufacturing  property,  employing  hundreds  of 
hands,  in  their  vicinity;  and  the  care  and  cultivation 
of  these  work-people,  the  education  of  their  children, 
had  been  most  conscientiously  upon  their  minds.  Half 
of  every  Sunday  they  devoted  together  to  labors  in  the 
Sunday  school  of  their  manufacturing  village;  and  the 
two  worked  so  harmoniously  together  in  the  interests  of 
their  life,  that  Grace  had  never  felt  the  want  of  any  do 
mestic  ties  or  relations  other  than  those  that  she  had. 

Our  readers  may  perhaps,  therefore,  concede  that, 
among  the  many  claimants  for  their  sympathy  in  this 
cross-grained  world  of  ours,  some  few  grains  of  it  may 
properly  be  due  to  Grace. 

Things  are  trials  that  try  us:  afflictions  are  what 
afflict  us;  and,  under  this  showing,  Grace  was  both 
tried  and  afflicted  by  the  sudden  engagement  of  her 
brother.  When  the  whole  groundwork  on  which  one's ' 
daily  life  is  built  caves  in,  and  falls  into  the  cellar  with 
out  one  moment's  warning,  it  is  not  in  human  nature 
to  pick  one's  self  up,  and  reconstruct  and  rearrange  in 
a  moment.  So  Grace  thought,  at  any  rate;  but  she 
made  a  hurried  effort  to  dash  back  her  tears,  and  gulp 
down  a  rising  in  her  throat,  anxious  only  not  to  be  self 
ish,  and  not  to  disgust  her  brother  in  the  outset  with 
any  personal  egotism. 

So  she  ran  to  the  front  door  to  meet  him,  and  fell 
into  his  arms,  trying  so  hard  to  seem  congratulatory 
and  affectionate  that  she  broke  out  into  sobbing. 

"  My  dear  Gracie,"  said  John,  embracing  and  kissing 
3 


34  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

her  with  that  gushing  fervor  with  which  newly  engaged 
gentlemen  are  apt  to  deluge  every  creature  whom  they 
meet,  "you've  got  my  letter.  Well,  were  not  you 
astonished  ?  " 

"O  John,  it  was  so  sudden!"  was  all  poor  Grace 
could  say.  "  And  you  know,  John,  since  mother  died, 
you  and  I  have  been  all  in  all  to  each  other." 

"  And  so  we  shall  be,  Gracie.  Why,  yes,  of  course 
we  shall,"  he  said,  stroking  her  hair,  and  playing  with 
her  trembling,  thin,  white  hands.  "  Why,  this  only 
makes  me  love  you  the  more  now ;  and  you  will  love 
my  little  Lillie :  fact  is,  you  can't  help  it.  We  shall 
both  of  us  be  happier  for  having  her  here." 

"  Well,  you  know,  John,  I  never  saw  her,"  said  Grace, 
deprecatingly,  "  and  so  you  can't  wonder." 

"  Oh,  yes,  of  course !  Don't  wonder  in  the  least.  It 
comes  rather  sudden,  —  and  then  you  haven't  seen  her. 
Look,  here  is  her  photograph ! "  said  John,  producing 
one  from  the  most  orthodox  innermost  region,  directly 
over  his  heart.  "  Look  there !  isn't  it  beautiful  ?  " 

u  It  is  a  very  sweet  face,"  said  Grace,  exerting  her 
self  to  be  sympathetic,  and  thankful  that  she  could  say 
that  much  truthfully. 

"  I  can't  imagine,"  said  John,  "  what  ever  made  her 
like  me.  You  know  she  has  refused  half  the  fellows  in 
the  country.  I  hadn't  the  remotest  idea  that  she  would 
have  any  thing  to  say  to  me ;  but  you  see  there 's  no 
accounting  for  tastes;"  and  John  plumed  himself,  as 
young  gentlemen  do  who  have  carried  off  prizes. 

"  You  see,"  he  added, "  it 's  odd,  but  she  took  a  fancy 


THE    SISTER. 


35 


"  It  is  a  very  sweet  face." 

to  me  the  first  time  she  saw  me.  Now,  you  know, 
Gracie,  I  never  found  it  easy  to  get  along  with  ladies 
at  first ;  but  Lillie  has  the  most  extraordinary  way  of 
putting  a  fellow  at  his  ease.  Why,  she  made  me  feel 
like  an  old  friend  the  first  hour." 

"Indeed!" 

"Look  here,"  said  John,  triumphantly  drawing  out 
his  pocket-book,  and  producing  thence  a  knot  of  rose- 
colored  satin  ribbon.  "  Did  you  ever  see  such  a  lovely 
color  as  this  ?  It 's  so  exquisite,  you  see !  Well,  she 
always  is  wearing  just  such  knots  of  ribbon,  the  most 
lovely  shades.  Why,  there  isn't  one  woman  in  a  thou 
sand  could  wear  the  things  she  does.  Every  thing  be- 


86  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

comes  her.  Sometimes  it's  rose  color,  or  lilac,  or  pale 
blue, — just  the  most  trying  things  to  others  are  what 
she  can  wear." 

"Dear  John,  I  hope  you  looked  for  something  deeper 
than  the  complexion  in  a  wife,"  said  Grace,  driven  to 
moral  reflections  in  spite  of  herself. 

"Oh,  of  course!"  said  John:  "she  has  such  soft, 
gentle,  winning  ways ;  she  is  so  sympathetic ;  she 's  just 
the  wife  to  make  home  happy,  to  be  a  bond  of  union  to 
us  all.  Now,  in  a  wife,  what  we  want  is  just  that. 
Lillie's  mind,  for  instance,  hasn't  been  cultivated  as 
yours  and  Letitia's.  She  isn't  at  all  that  sort  of  girl. 
She 's  just  a  dear,  gentle,  little  confiding  creature,  that 
you  '11  delight  in.  You  '11  form  her  mind,  and  she  '11  look 
up  to  you.  You  know  she 's  young  yet." 

"  Young,  John !  Why,  she 's  seven  and  twenty,"  said 
Grace,  with  astonishment. 

"  Oh,  no,  my  dear  Grade !  that  is  all  a  mistake.  She 
told  me  herself  she 's  only  twenty.  You  see,  the  trouble 
is,  she  went  into  company  injudiciously  early,  a  mere 
baby,  in  fact ;  and  that  causes  her  to  have  the  name  of 
being  older  than  she  is.  But,  I  do  assure  you,  she 's 
only  twenty.  She  told  me  so  herself." 

"  Oh,  indeed ! "  said  Grace,  prudently  choking  back 
the  contradiction  which  she  longed  to  utter.  "  I  know 
it  seems  a  good  many  summers  since  I  heard  of  her  as 
a  belle  at  Newport." 

"  Ah,  yes,  exactly !  You  see  she  went  into  company, 
as  a  young  lady,  when  she  was  only  thirteen.  She  told 
me  all  about  it.  Her  parents  were  very  injudicious,  and 


THE  SISTER.  37 

they  pushed  her  forward.  She  regrets  it  now.  She 
knows  that  it  wasn't  the  thing  at  all.  She 's  very  sen 
sitive  to  the  defects  in  her  early  education ;  but  I  made 
her  understand  that  it  was  the  heart  more  than  the 
head  that  I  cared  for.  I  dare  say,  Gracie,  she  '11  fall 
into  all  our  little  ways  without  really  knowing;  and 
you,  in  point  of  fact,  will  be  mistress  of  the  house  as 
much  as  you  ever  were.  Lillie  is  delicate,  and  never 
has  had  any  care,  and  will  be  only  too  happy  to  depend 
on  you.  She 's  one  of  the  gentle,  dependent  sort,  you 
know." 

To  this  statement,  Grace  did  not  reply.  She  only 
began  nervously  sweeping  together  the  debris  of  leaves 
and  flowers  which  encumbered  the  table,  on  which  the 
newly  arranged  flower-vases  were  standing.  Then  she 
arranged  the  vases  with  great  precision  on  the  mantel 
shelf.  As  she  was  doing  it,  so  many  memories  rushed 
over  her  of  that  room  and  her  mother,  and  the  happy, 
peaceful  family  life  that  had  hitherto  been  led  there, 
that  she  quite  broke  down ;  and,  sitting  down  in  the 
chair,  she  covered  her  face,  and  went  off  in  a  good, 
hearty  crying  spell. 

Poor  John  was  inexpressibly  shocked.  He  loved 
and  revered  his  sister  beyond  any  thing  in  the  world  ; 
and  it  occurred  to  him,  in  a  dim  wise,  that  to  be  sud 
denly  dispossessed  and  shut  out  in  the  cold,  when  one 
has  hitherto  been  the  first  object  of  affection,  is,  to 
make  the  best  of  it,  a  real  and  sore  trial. 

But  Grace  soon  recovered  herself,  and  rose  up  smil 
ing  through  her  tears.  "  What  a  fool  I  am  making  of 


38  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

myself!"  she  said.  "The  fact  is,  John,  I  am  only  a 
little  nervous.  You  mustn't  mind  it.  You  know," 
she  said,  laughing,  "  we  old  maids  are  like  cats,  —  we 
find  it  hard  to  be  put  out  of  our  old  routine.  I  dare 
say  we  shall  all  of  us  be  happier  in  the  end  for  this, 
and  I  shall  try  to  do  all  I  can  to  make  it  so.  Perhaps, 
John,  I  'd  better  take  that  little  house  of  mine  on  Elm 
Street,  and  set  up  my  tent  in  it,  and  take  all  the  old 
furniture  and  old  pictures,  and  old-time  things.  You  '11 
be  wanting  to  modernize  and  make  over  this  house, 
you  know,  to  suit  a  young  wife." 

"  Nonsense,  Gracie ;  no  such  thing !  "  said  John. 
"Do  you  suppose  I  want  to  leave  all  the  past  associa 
tions  of  my  life,  and  strip  my  home  bare  of  all  pleasant 
memorials,  because  I  bring  a  little  wife  here  ?  Why, 
the  very  idea  of  a  wife  is  somebody  to  sympathize  in 
your  tastes;  and  Lillie  will  love  and  appreciate  all 
these  dear  old  things  as  you  and  I  do.  She  has  such  a 
sympathetic  heart !  If  you  want  to  make  me  happy, 
Gracie,  stay  here,  and  let  us  live,  as  near  as  may  be,  as 
before." 

"  So  we  will,  John,"  said  Grace,  so  cheerfully  that 
John  considered  the  whole  matter  as  settled,  and  rushed 
upstairs  to  write  his  daily  letter  to  Lillie. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

PREPARATION  FOR   MARRIAGE. 

TV/TISS  LILLIE  ELLIS  was  sitting  upstairs  in  her 
-*•*•*•  virgin  bower,  which  was  now  converted  into  a 
tumultuous,  seething  caldron  of  millinery  and  mantua- 
making,  such  as  usually  precedes  a  wedding.  To  be  sure, 
orders  had  been  forthwith  despatched  to  Paris  for  the 
bridal  regimentals,  and  for  a  good  part  of  the  trousseau  ; 
but  that  did  not  seem  in  the  least  to  stand  in  the  way 
of  the  time-honored  confusion  of  sewing  preparations 
at  home,  which  is  supposed  to  waste  the  strength  and 
exhaust  the  health  of  every  bride  elect. 

Whether  young  women,  while  disengaged,  do  not 
have  proper  under-clothing,  or  whether  they  contem 
plate  marriage  as  an  awful  gulf  which  swallows  up  all 
future  possibilities  of  replenishing  a  wardrobe,  —  cer 
tain  it  is  that  no  sooner  is  a  girl  engaged  to  be  mar 
ried  than  there  is  a  blind  and  distracting  rush  and 
pressure  and  haste  to  make  up  for  her  immediately 
a  stock  of  articles,  which,  up  to  that  hour,  she  has 
managed  to  live  very  comfortably  and  respectably 
without.  It  is  astonishing  to  behold  the  number  of 


40  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

inexpressible  things  with  French  names  which  unmar 
ried  young  ladies  never  think  of  wanting,  but  which 
there  is  a  desperate  push  to  supply,  and  have  ranged  in 
order,  the  moment  the  matrimonial  state  is  in  contem 
plation. 

Therefore  it  was  that  the  virgin  bower  of  Lillie 
was  knee-deep  in  a  tangled  mass  of  stuifs  of  various 
hues  and  description ;  that  the  sharp  sound  of  tearing 
off  breadths  resounded  there ;  that  Miss  Clippins  and 
Miss  Snippings  and  Miss  Nippins  were  sewing  there 
day  and  night ;  that  a  sewing-machine  was  busily  rat 
tling  in  mamma's  room ;  and  that  there  were  all  sorts  of 
pinking  and  quilling,  and  braiding  and  hemming,  and 
whipping  and  ruffling,  and  over-sewing  and  cat-stitch 
ing  and  hem-stitching,  and  other  female  mysteries, 
going  on. 

As  for  Lillie,  she  lay  in  a  loose  neglige  on  the  bed, 
ready  every  five  minutes  to  be  called  up  to  have  some 
thing  measured,  or  tried  on,  or  fitted ;  and  to  be  con 
sulted  whether  there  should  be  fifteen  or  sixteen  tucks 
and  then  an  insertion,  or  sixteen  tucks  and  a  series  of 
puffs.  Her  labors  wore  upon  her ;  and  it  was  smilingly 
observed  by  Miss  Clippins  across  to  Miss  Nippins,  that 
Miss  Lillie  was  beginning  to  show  her  "  engagement 
bones."  In  the  midst  of  these  preoccupations,  a  letter 
was  handed  to  her  by  the  giggling  chambermaid.  It 
was  a  thick  letter,  directed  in  a  bold  honest  hand. 
Miss  Lillie  took  it  with  a  languid  little  yawn,  finished 
the  last  sentences  in  a  chapter  of  the  novel  she  was 
reading,  and  then  leisurely  broke  the  seal  and  glanced 


PREPARATION  FOR  MARRIAGE.     41 

it  over.  It  was  the  one  that  the  enraptured  John  had 
spent  his  morning  in  writing. 

"  Miss  Ellis,  now,  if  you  '11  try  on  this  jacket  —  oh !  I 
beg  your  pardon,"  said  Miss  Clippins,  observing  the 
letter,  "  we  can  wait,  of  course  / "  and  then  all  three 
laughed  as  if  something  very  pleasant  was  in  their 
minds. 

"  No,"  said  Lillie,  giving  the  letter  a  toss ;  "  it  '11 
keep  /  "  and  she  stood  up  to  have  a  jaunty  little  blue 
jacket,  with  its  pluffy  bordering  of  swan's  down,  fitted 
upon  her. 

"  It 's  too  bad,  now,  to  take  you  from  your  letter," 
said  Miss  Clippins,  with  a  sly  nod. 

"I'm  sure  you  take  it  philosophically,"  said  Miss 
Nippins,  with  a  giggle. 

"  Why  shouldn't  I  ?  "  said  the  divine  Lillie.  "  I  get 
one  every  day ;  and  it 's  all  the  old  story.  I  Ve  heard 
it  ever  since  I  was  born." 

"  "Well,  now,  to  be  sure  you  have.  Let 's  see,"  said 
Miss  Clippins,  "  this  is  the  seventy-fourth  or  seventy- 
fifth  offer,  was  it?" 

"  Oh,  you  must  ask  mamma !  she  keeps  the  lists : 
I'm  sure  I  don't  trouble  my  head,"  said  the  little 
beauty  ;  and  she  looked  so  natty  and  jaunty  when  she 
said  it,  just  arching  her  queenly  white  neck,  and  mak 
ing  soft,  downy  dimples  in  her  cheeks  as  she  gave  her 
fresh  little  childlike  laugh ;  turning  round  and  round 
before  the  looking-glass,  and  issuing  her  orders  for  the 
fitting  of  the  jacket  with  a  precision  and  real  interest 
which  showed  that  there  were  things  in  the  world  which 


42  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

didn't  become  old  stories,  even  if  one  had  been  used  to 
them  ever  since  one  was  born. 

Lillie  never  was  caught  napping  when  the  point  in 
question  was  the  fit  of  her  clothes. 

When  released  from  the  little  bluejacket,  there  was 
a  rose-colored  morning-dress  to  be  tried  on,  and  a  grave 
discussion  as  to  whether  the  honiton  lace  was  to  be  set 
on  plain  or  frilled. 

So  important  was  this  case,  that  mamma  was  sum 
moned  from  the  sewing-machine  to  give  her  opinion. 
Mrs.  Ellis  was  a  fat,  fair,  rosy  matron  of  most  undis 
turbed  conscience  and  digestion,  whose  main  business 
in  life  had  always  been  to  see  to  her  children's  clothes. 
She  had  brought  up  Lillie  with  faithful  and  religious 
zeal ;  that  is  to  say,  she  had  always  ruffled  her  under 
clothes  with  her  own  hands,  and  darned  her  stockings, 
sick  or  well ;  and  also,  as  before  intimated,  kept  a  list 
of  her  offers,  which  she  was  ready  in  confidential  mo 
ments  to  tell  off  to  any  of  her  acquaintance.  The 
question  of  ruffled  or  plain  honiton  was  of  such  vital 
importance,  that  the  whole  four  took  some  time  in  con 
sidering  it  in  its  various  points  of  view. 

"  Sarah  Selfridge  had  hers  ruffled,"  said  Lillie. 

"  And  the  effect  was  perfectly  sweet,"  said  Miss  Clip- 
pins. 

"  Perhaps,  Lillie,  you  had  better  have  it  ruffled,"  said 
mamma. 

"But  three  rows  laid  on  plain  has  such  a  lovely 
effect,"  said  Miss  Nippins. 

"  Perhaps,  then,  she  had  better  have  three  rows  laid 
on  plain,"  said  mamma. 


PREPARATION  FOR  MARRIAGE.  43 

"  Or  she  might  have  one  row  ruffled  on  the  edge, 
with  three  rows  laid  on  plain,  with  a  satin  fold,"  said 
Miss  Clippins.  "  That 's  the  way  I  fixed  Miss  Elliott's." 

"  That  would  be  a  nice  way,"  said  mamma.  "  Perhaps, 
Lillie,  you  'd  better  have  it  so." 

"  Oh  !  come  now,  all  of  you,  just  hush,"  said  Lillie. 
"  I  know  just  how  I  want  it  done." 

The  words  may  sound  a  little  rude  and  dictatorial ; 
but  Lillie  had  the  advantage  of  always  looking  so 
pretty,  and  saying  dictatorial  things  in  such  a  sweet 
voice,  that  everybody  was  delighted  with  them  ;  and 
she  took  the  matter  of  arranging  the  trimming  in  hand 
with  a  clearness  of  head  which  showed  that  it  was  a 
subject  to  which  she  had  given  mature  consideration. 
Mrs.  Ellis  shook  her  fat  sides  with  a  comfortable 
motherly  chuckle. 

"  Lillie  always  did  know  exactly  what  she  wanted  : 
she 's  a  smart  little  thing." 

And,  when  all  the  trying  on  and  arranging  of  folds 
and  frills  and  pinks  and  bows  was  over,  Lillie  threw 
herself  comfortably  upon  the  bed,  to  finish  her  letter. 

Shrewd  Miss  Clippins  detected  the  yawn  with  which 
she  laid  down  the  missive. 

"  Seems  to  me  your  letters  don't  meet  a  very  warm 
reception,"  she  said. 

"  Well !  every  day,  and  such  long  ones  !  "  Lillie 
answered,  turning  over  the  pages.  "  See  there,"  she 
went  on,  opening  a  drawer,  "  What  a  heap  of  them ! 
I  can't  see,  for  my  part,  what  any  one  can  want  to  write 
a  letter  every  day  to  anybody  for.  John  is  such  a  goose 
about  me." 


44  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 


u  Shrewd  Miss  Clippins  detected  the  yawn." 

"  He  '11  get  over  it  after  he 's  been  married  six  months," 
said  Miss  Clippins,  nodding  her  head  with  the  air  of  a 
woman  that  has  seen  life. 

"  I  'm  sure  I  shan't  care,"  said  Lillie,  with  a  toss  of 
her  pretty  head.  "  It 's  borons  any  way." 

Our  readers  may  perhaps  imagine,  from  the  story 
thus  far,  that  our  little  Lillie  is  by  no  means  the  person, 
in  reality,  that  John  supposes  her  to  be,  when  he  sits 
thinking  of  her  with  such  devotion,  and  writing  her 
such  long,  "  borous"  letters. 

She  is  not.  John  is  in  love  not  with  the  actual  Lillie 
Ellis,  but  with  that  ideal  personage  who  looks  like  his 
mother's  picture,  and  is  the  embodiment  of  all  his 


PREPARATION  FOR  MARRIAGE.  45 

mother's  virtues.  The  feeling,  as  it  exists  in  John's 
mind,  is  not  only  a  most  respectable,  but  in  fact  a  truly 
divine  one,  and  one  that  no  mortal  man  ought  to  be 
ashamed  of.  The  love  that  quickens  all  the  nature,  that 
makes  a  man  twice  manly,  and  makes  him  aspire  to  all 
that  is  high,  pure,  sweet,  and  religious,  —  is  a  feeling  so 
sacred,  that  no  unworthiness  in  its  object  can  make  it  any 
less  beautiful.  More  often  than  not  it  is  spent  on  an  utter 
vacancy.  Men  and  women  both  pass  through  this 
divine  initiation,  —  this  sacred  inspiration  of  our  na 
ture,  —  and  find,  when  they  have  come  into  the  inner 
most  shrine,  where  the  divinity  ought  to  be,  that  there 
is  no  god  or  goddess  there ;  nothing  but  the  cold  black 
ashes  of  commonplace  vulgarity  and  selfishness.  Both 
of  them,  when  the  grand  discovery  has  been  made,  do 
well  to  fold  their  robes  decently  about  them,  and  make 
the  best  of  the  matter.  If  they  cannot  love,  they  can  at 
least  be  friendly.  They  can  tolerate,  as  philosophers ; 
pity,  as  Christians  ;  and,  finding  just  where  and  how  the 
burden  of  an  ill-assorted  union  galls  the  least,  can  then 
and  there  strap  it  on  their  backs,  and  walk  on,  not 
only  without  complaint,  but  sometimes  in  a  cheerful  and 
hilarious  spirit. 

Not  a  word  of  all  this  thinks  our  friend  John,  as  he 
sits  longing,  aspiring,  and  pouring  out  his  heart,  day  after 
day,  in  letters  that  interrupt  Lillie  in  the  all-important 
responsibility  of  getting  her  wardrobe  fitted. 

Shall  we  think  this  smooth  little  fair-skinned  Lillie  is 
a  cold-hearted  monster,  because  her  heart  does  not  beat 
faster  at  these  letters  which  she  does  not  understand, 


46  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

and  which  strike  her  as  unnecessarily  prolix  and  prosy  ? 
Why  should  John  insist  on  telling  her  his  feelings  and 
opinions  on  a  vast  variety  of  subjects  that  she  does 
not  care  a  button  for  ?  She  doesn't  know  any  thing 
about  ritualism  and  anti-ritualism ;  and,  what's  more,  she 
doesn't  care.  She  hates  to  hear  so  much  about  religion. 
She  thinks  it 's  pokey.  John  may  go  to  any  church  he 
pleases,  for  all  her.  As  to  all  that  about  his  favorite 
poems,  she  don't  like  poetry,  —  never  could,  —  don't  see 
any  sense  in  it ;  and  John  will  be  quoting  ever  so  much 
in  his  letters.  Then,  as  to  the  love  parts,  —  it  may  be 
all  quite  new  and  exciting  to  John ;  but  she  has,  as  she 
said,  heard  that  story  over  and  over  again,  till  it  strikes 
her  as  quite  a  matter  of  course.  Without  doubt  the 
whole  world  is  a  desert  where  she  is  not :  the  thing  has 
been  asserted,  over  and  over,  by  so  many  gentlemen  of 
credible  character  for  truth  and  veracity,  that  she  is 
forced  to  believe  it ;  and  she  cannot  see  why  John  is 
particularly  to  be  pitied  on  this  account.  He  is  in  no 
more  desperate  state  about  her  than  the  rest  of  them ; 
and  secretly  Lillie  has  as  little  pity  for  lovers'  pangs  as 
a  nice  little  white  cat  has  for  mice.  They  amuse  her ; 
they  are  her  appropriate  recreation  ;  and  she  pats  and 
plays  with  each  mouse  in  succession,  without  any  com 
prehension  that  it  may  be  a  serious  thing  for  him. 

When  Lillie  was  a  little  girl,  eight  years  old,  she 
used  to  sell  her  kisses  through  the  slats  of  the  fence  for 
papers  of  candy,  and  thus  early  acquired  the  idea  that 
her  charms  were  a  capital  to  be  employed  in  trading  for 
the  good  things  of  life.  She  had  the  misfortune  —  and 


PREPARATION  FOR   MARRIAGE.  47 

a  great  one  it  is  —  to  have  been  singularly  beautiful 
from  the  cradle,  and  so  was  praised  and  exclaimed  over 
and  caressed  as  she  walked  through  the  streets.  She 
was  sent  for,  far  and  near ;  borrowed  to  be  looked  at ; 
her  picture  taken  by  photographers.  If  one  reflects  how 
many  foolish  and  inconsiderate  people  there  are  in  the 
world,  who  have  no  scruple  in  making  a  pet  and  play 
thing  of  a  pretty  child,  one  will  see  how  this  one  un 
lucky  lot  of  being  beautiful  in  childhood  spoiled  Lillie's 
chances  of  an  average  share  of  good  sense  and  good 
ness.  The  only  hope  for  such  a  case  lies  in  the  chance 
of  possessing  judicious  parents.  Lillie  had  not  these. 
Her  father  was  a  shrewd  grocer,  and  nothing  more; 
and  her  mother  was  a  competent  cook  and  seamstress. 
While  he  traded  in  sugar  and  salt,  and  she  made  pickles 
and  embroided  under-linen,  the  pretty  Lillie  was  edu 
cated  as  pleased  Heaven. 

Pretty  girls,  unless  they  have  wise  mothers,  are  more 
educated  by  the  opposite  sex  than  by  their  own.  Put 
them  where  you  will,  there  is  always  some  man  busy 
ing  himself  in  their  instruction;  and  the  burden  of 
masculine  teaching  is  generally  about  the  same,  and 
might  be  stereotyped  as  follows :  "  You  don't  need  to 
be  or  do  any  thing.  Your  business  in  life  is  to  look 
pretty,  and  amuse  us.  You  don't  need  to  study:  you 
know  all  by  nature  that  a  woman  need  to  know.  You 
are,  by  virtue  of  being  a  pretty  Avoman,  superior  to  any 
thing  we  can  teach  you;  and  we  wouldn't,  for  the 
world,  have  you  any  thing  but  what  you  are."  When 
Lillie  went  to  school,  this  was  what  her  masters 


own. 


48  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

whispered  in  her  ear  as  they  did  her  sums  for  her,  and 
helped  her  through  her  lessons  and  exercises,  and 
looked  into  her  eyes.  This  was  what  her  young  gentle 
men  friends,  themselves  delving  in  Latin  and  Greek 
and  mathematics,  told  her,  when  they  came  to  recreate 
from  their  severer  studies  in  her  smile.  Men  are  held 
to  account  for  talking  sense.  Pretty  women  are  told 
that  lively  nonsense  is  their  best  sense.  Now  and  then, 
an  admirer  bolder  than  the  rest  ventured  to  take  Lillie's 
education  more  earnestly  in  hand,  and  recommended  to 
her  just  a  little  reading,  —  enough  to  enable  her  to 
carry  on  conversation,  and  appear  to  know  something 
of  the  ordinary  topics  discussed  in  society,  —  but 
informed  her,  by  the  by,  that  there  was  no  sort  of  need 
of  being  either  profound  or  accurate  in  these  matters, 
as  the  mistakes  of  a  pretty  woman  had  a  grace  of  their 


At  seventeen,  Lillie  graduated  from  Dr.  Sibthorpe's 
school  with  a  "  finished  education."  She  had,  somehow 
or  other,  picked  her  way  through  various  "  ologies  "  and 
exercises  supposed  to  be  necessary  for  a  well-informed 
young  lady.  She  wrote  a  pretty  hand,  spoke  French 
with  a  good  accent,  and  could  turn  a  sentimental  inote 
neatly ;  "  and  that,  my  dear,"  said  Dr.  Sibthorpe  to  his 
wife,  "  is  all  that  a  woman  needs,  who  so  evidently  is 
intended  for  wife  and  mother  as  our  little  Lillie."  Dr. 
Sibthorpe,  in  fact,  had  amused  himself  with  a  semi- 
paternal  flirtation  with  his  pupil  during  the  whole 
course  of  her  school  exercises,  and  parted  from  her 
with  tears  in  his  eyes,  greatly  to  her  amusement ;  for 


PREPARATION  FOR  MARRIAGE.  49 

Lillie,  after  all,  estimated  his  devotion  at  just  about 
what  it  was  worth.  It  amused  her  to  see  him  make  a 
fool  of  himself. 

Of  course,  the  next  thing  was  —  to  be  married ;  and 
Lillie's  life  now  became  a  round  of  dressing,  dancing, 
going  to  watering-places,  travelling,  and  in  other  ways 
seeking  the  fulfilment  of  her  destiny. 

She  had  precisely  the  accessible,  easy  softness  of 
manner  that  leads  every  man  to  believe  that  he  may 
prove  a  favorite,  and  her  run  of  offers  became  quite  a 
source  of  amusement.  Her  arrival  at  watering-places 
was  noted  in  initials  in  the  papers ;  her  dress  on  every 
public  occasion  was  described;  and,  as  acknowledged 
queen  of  love  and  beauty, )  she  had  everywhere  her 
little  court  of  men  and  women  flatterers.  The  women 
flatterers  around  a  belle  are  as  much  a  part  of  the 
cortege  as  the  men.  They  repeat  the  compliments  they 
hear,  and  burn  incense  in  the  virgin's  bower  at  hours 
when  the  profaner  sex  may  not  enter. 

The  life  of  a  petted  creature  consists  essentially  in 
being  deferred  to,  for  being  pretty  and  useless.  A 
petted  child  runs  a  great  risk,  if  it  is  ever  to  outgrow 
childhood ;  but  a  pet  woman  is  a  perpetual  child.  The 
pet  woman  of  society  is  everybody's  toy.  Everybody 
looks  at  her,  admires  her,  praises  and  flatters  her,  stirs 
her  up  to  play  off  her  little  airs  and  graces  for  their 
entertainment ;  and  passes  on.  Men  of  profound  sense 
encourage  her  to  chatter  nonsense  for  their  amusement, 
just  as  we  delight  in  the  tottering  steps  and  stammering 
mispronunciations  of  a  golden-haired  child.  When 

4 


50  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Lillie  has  been  in  Washington,  she  has  had  judges  of 
the  supreme  court  and  secretaries  of  state  delighted  to 
have  her  give  her  opinions  in  their  respective  depart 
ments.  Scholars  and  literary  men  flocked  around  her, 
to  the  neglect  of  many  a  more  instructed  woman, 
satisfied  that  she  knew  enough  to  blunder  agreeably  on 
every  subject. 

Nor  is  there  any  thing  in  the  Christian  civilization 
of  our  present  century  that  condemns  the  kind  of  life 
we  are  describing,  as  in  any  respect  unwomanly  or  un 
becoming.  Something  very  like  it  is  in  a  measure 
considered  as  the  appointed  rule  of  attractive  young 
girls  till  they  are  married. 

Lillie  had  numbered  among  her  admirers  many  lights 
of  the  Church.  She  had  flirted  with  bishops,  priests, 
and  deacons,  —  who,  none  of  them,  would,  for  the 
world,  have  been  so  ungallant  as  to  quote  to  her  such 
dreadful  professional  passages  as,  "  She  that  liveth  in 
pleasure  is  dead  while  she  liveth." 

In  fact,  the  clergy,  when  off  duty,  are  no  safer  guides 
of  attractive  young  women  than  other  mortal  men ; 
and  Lillie  had  so  often  seen  their  spiritual  attentions 
degenerate  into  downright,  temporal  love-making,  that 
she  held  them  in  as  small  reverence  as  the  rest  of  their 
sex.  Only  one  dreadful  John  the  Baptist  of  her  ac 
quaintance,  one  of  the  camel' s-hair-girdle  and  locust  - 
and  -  wild  -  honey  species,  once  encountering  Lillie  at 
Saratoga,  and  observing  the  ways  and  manners  of  the 
court  which  she  kept  there,  took  it  upon  him  to  give 
her  a  spiritual  admonition. 


PREPARATION  FOB  MARRIAGE.  51 

"  Miss  Lillie,"  he  said,  "  I  see  no  chance  for  the  salva 
tion  of  your  soul,  unless  it  should  please  God  to  send 
the  small-pox  upon  you.  I  think  I  shall  pray  for 
that." 

"  Oh,  horrors !  don't !  I  'd  rather  never  be  saved," 
Lillie  answered  with  a  fervent  sincerity. 

The  story  was  repeated  afterwards  as  an  amusing 
bon  mot,  and  a  specimen  of  the  barbarity  to  which 
religious  fanaticism  may  lead;  and  yet  we  question 
whether  John  the  Baptist  had  not  the  right  of  it. 

For  it  must  at  once  appear,  that,  had  the  small-pox 
made  the  above-mentioned  change  in  Lillie's  complexion 
at  sixteen,  the  entire  course  of  her  life  would  have 
taken  another  turn.  The  whole  world  then  would 
have  united  in  letting  her  know  that  she  must  live 
to  some  useful  purpose,  or  be  nobody  and  nothing. 
Schoolmasters  would  have  scolded  her  if  she  idled  over 
her  lessons ;  and  her  breaking  down  in  arithmetic,  and 
mistakes  in  history,  would  no  longer  have  been  regarded 
as  interesting.  Clergymen,  consulted  on  her  spiritual 
state,  would  have  told  her  freely  that  she  was  a  miser 
able  sinner,  who,  except  she  repented,  must  likewise 
perish.  In  short,  all  those  bitter  and  wholesome  truths, 
wrhich  strengthen  and  invigorate  the  virtues  of  plain 
people,  might  possibly  have  led  her  a  long  way  on 
towards  saintship. 

As  it  was,  little  Lillie  was  confessedly  no  saint ;  and 
yet,  if  much  of  a  sinner,  society  has  as  much  to  answer 
for  as  she.  She  was  the  daughter  and  flower  of  the 
Christian  civilization  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 


52  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

the  kind  of  woman,  that,  on  the  whole,  men  of  quite 
distinguished  sense  have  been  fond  of  choosing  for 
wives,  and  will  go  on  seeking  to  the  end  of  the  chapter. 

Did  she  love  John  ?  Well,  she  was  quite  pleased  to 
be  loved  by  him,  and  she  liked  the  prospect  of  being 
his  wife.  She  was  sure  he  would  always  let  her  have 
her  own  way,  and  that  he  had  a  plenty  of  worldly 
means  to  do  it  with. 

Lillie,  if  not  very  clever  in  a  literary  or  scientific 
point  of  view,  was  no  fool.  She  had,  in  fact,  under  all 
her  softness  of  manner,  a  great  deal  of  that  real  hard 
grit  which  shrewd,  worldly  people  call  common  sense. 
She  saw  through  all  the  illusions  of  fancy  and  feeling, 
right  to  the  tough  material  core  of  things.  However 
soft  and  tender  and  sentimental  her  habits  of  speech 
and  action  were  in  her  professional  capacity  of  a  charm 
ing  woman,  still  the  fair  Lillie,  had  she  been  a  man, 
would  have  been  respected  in  the  business  world,  as 
one  that  had  cut  her  eye-teeth,  and  knew  on  which  side 
her  bread  was  buttered. 

A  husband,  she  knew  very  well,  was  the  man  who 
undertook  to  be  responsible  for  his  wife's  bills :  he  was 
the  giver,  bringer,  and  maintainer  of  all  sorts  of  solid 
and  appreciable  comforts. 

Lillie's  bills  had  hitherto  been  sore  places  in  the 
domestic  history  of  her  family.  The  career  of  a  fash 
ionable  belle  is  not  to  be  supported  without  something 
of  an  outlay ;  and  that  innocence  of  arithmetical  com 
binations,  over  which  she  was  wont  to  laugh  bewitch- 
ingly  among  her  adorers,  sometimes  led  to  results  quite 


PREPARATION  FOR  MARRIAGE.  53 

astounding  to  the  prosaic,  hard-working  papa,  who 
stood  financially  responsible  for  all  her  finery. 

Mamma  had  often  been  called  in  to  calm  the  tumult 
of  his  feelings  on  such  semi-annual  developments ;  and 
she  did  it  by  pointing  out  to  him  that  this  heavy  pres 
ent  expense  was  an  investment  by  which  Lillie  was, 
in  the  end,  to  make  her  own  fortune  and  that  of  her 
family. 

When  Lillie  contemplated  the  marriage-service  with 
a  view  to  going  through  it  with  John,  there  was  one 
clause  that  stood  out  in  consoling  distinctness,  —  "  With 
all  my  worldly  goods  Ithee  endow" 

As  to  the  other  clause,  which  contains  the  dreadful 
word  "  OBEY,"  about  which  our  modern  women  have 
such  fearful  apprehensions,  Lillie  was  ready  to  swallow 
it  without  even  a  grimace. 

"  Obey  John ! "  Her  face  wore  a  pretty  air  of  droll 
assurance  at  the  thought.  It  was  too  funny. 

"  My  dear,"  said  Belle  Trevors,  who  was  one  of  Lillie's 
incense-burners  and  a  bridesmaid  elect,  '•'•have  you  the 
least  idea  how  rich  he  is  ?  " 

"  He  is  well  enough  off  to  do  about  any  thing  I  want," 
said  Lillie. 

"  Well,  you  know  he  owns  the  whole  village  of  Spin- 
dlewood,  with  all  those  great  factories,  besides  law  busi 
ness,"  said  Belle.  "  But  then  they  live  in  a  dreadfully 
slow,  pokey  way  down  there  in  Springdale.  They 
haven't  the  remotest  idea  how  to  use  money." 

"  I  can  show  him  how  to  use  it,"  said  Lillie. 

"  He  and  his  sister  keep  a  nice  sort  of  old-fashioned 


54  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

place  there,  and  jog  about  in  an  old  countrified  carriage, 
picking  up  poor  children  and  visiting  schools.  She  is 
a  very  superior  woman,  that  sister." 

"I  don't  like  superior  women,"  said  Lillie. 

"But  you  must  like  her,  you  know.  John  is  per 
fectly  devoted  to  her,  and  I  suppose  she  is  to  be  a  fixt 
ure  in  the  establishment." 

"  We  shall  see  about  that,"  said  Lillie.  "  One  thing 
at  a  time.  I  don't  mean  he  shall  live  at  Springdale. 
It 's  horridly  pokey  to  live  in  those  little  country  towns. 
He  must  have  a  house  in  New  York." 

"  And  a  place  at  Newport  for  the  summer,"  said  Belle 
Trevors. 

"  Yes,"  said  Lillie,  "  a  cottage  in  Newport  does  very 
well  in  the  season ;  and  then  a  country  place  well 
fitted  up  to  invite  company  to  in  the  other  months  of 
summer." 

"  Delightful,"  said  Belle,  "  if  you  can  make  him  do 
it." 

"  See  if  I  don't,"  said  Lillie. 

"  You  dear,  funny  creature,  you,  —  how  you  do 
always  ride  on  the  top  of  the  wave ! "  said  Belle. 

"  It 's  what  I  was  born  for,"  said  Lillie.  "  By  the  by, 
Belle,  I  got  a  letter  from  Harry  last  night." 

"  Poor  fellow,  had  he  heard  "  — 

"  Why,  of  course  not.  I  didn't  want  he  should  till 
it 's  all  over.  It 's  best,  you  know." 

"  He  is  such  a  good  fellow,  and  so  devoted,  —  it  does 
seem  a  pity." 

"  Devoted !  well,  I  should  rather  think  he  was,"  said 


PREPARATION  FOR  MARRIAGE.  55 

Lillie.  "  I  believe  he  would  cut  off  his  right  hand  for 
me,  any  day.  But  I  never  gave  him  any  encourage 
ment.  I  Ve  always  told  him  I  could  be  to  him  only  as 
a  sister,  you  know." 

"  You  ought  not  to  write  to  him,"  said  Belle. 

"What  can  I  do?  He  is  perfectly  desperate  if  I 
don't,  and  still  persists  that  he  means  to  marry  me 
some  day,  spite  of  my  screams." 

"  Well,  he  '11  have  to  stop  making  love  to  you  after 
you  're  married." 

"  Oh,  pshaw !  I  don't  believe  that  old-fashioned  talk. 
Lovers  make  a  variety  in  life.  I  don't  see  why  a  mar 
ried  woman  is  to  give  up  all  the  fun  of  having  admirers. 
Of  course,  one  isn't  going  to  do  any  thing  wrong,  you 
know ;  but  one  doesn't  want  to  settle  down  into  Darby 
and  Joan  at  once.  Why,  some  of  the  young  married 
women,  the  most  stunning  belles  at  Newport  last  year, 
got  a  great  deal  more  attention  after  they  were  married 
than  they  did  before.  You  see  the  fellows  like  it, 
because  they  are  so  sure  not  to  be  drawn  in." 

"  I  think  it 's  too  bad  on  us  girls,  though,"  said  Belle. 
"  You  ought  to  leave  us  our  turn." 

"  Oh !  I  '11  turn  over  any  of  them  to  you,  Belle,"  said 
Lillie.  "  There 's  Harry,  to  begin  with.  What  do  you 
say  to  him  ?  " 

"Thank  you,  I  don't  think  I  shall  take  up  with 
second-hand  articles,"  said  Belle,  with  some  spirit. 

But  here  the  entrance  of  the  chamber-maid,  with  a 
fresh  dress  from  the  dressmaker's,  resolved  the  conver 
sation  into  a  discussion  so  very  minute  and  technical 
that  it  cannot  be  recorded  in  our  pages. 


CHAPTER      V. 

WEDDING,  AND   WEDDING-TRIP. 

"\T  7ELL,  and  so  they  were  married,  with  all  the 
newest  modern  forms,  ceremonies,  and  acces 
sories. 

Every  possible  thing  was  done  to  reflect  lustre  on 
the  occasion.  There  were  eight  bridesmaids,  and  every 
one  of  them  fair  as  the  moon ;  and  eight  groomsmen, 
with  white-satin  ribbons  and  white  rosebuds  in  their 
button-holes;  and  there  was  a  bishop,  assisted  by  a 
priest,  to  give  the  solemn  benedictions  of  the  church ; 
and  there  was  a  marriage-bell  of  tuberoses  and  lilies, 
of  enormous  size,  swinging  over  the  heads  of  the  pair 
at  the  altar ;  and  there  were  voluntaries  on  the  organ, 
and  chantings,  and  what  not,  all  solemn  and  impressive 
as  possible.  In  the  midst  of  all  this,  the  fair  Lillie 
•promised,  "  forsaking  all  others,  to  keep  only  unto  him, 
so  long  as  they  both  should  live,  "  —  "  to  love,  honor, 
and  obey,  until  death  did  them  part." 

During  the  whole  agitating  scene,  Lillie  kept  up  her 
presence  of  mind,  and  was  perfectly  aware  of  what  she 
was  about ;  so  that  a  very  fresh,  original,  and  crisp 
style  of  trimming,  that  had  been  invented  in  Paris 


WEDDING,   AND   WEDDING-TRIP.  57 

specially  for  her  wedding  toilet,  received  no  detriment 
from  the  least  unguarded  movement.  We  much  regret 
that  it  is  contrary  to  our  literary  principles  to  write 
half,  or  one  third,  in  French;  because  the  wedding- 
dress,  by  far  the  most  important  object  on  this  occa 
sion,  and  certainly  one  that  most  engrossed  the  thoughts 
of  the  bride,  was  one  entirely  indescribable  in  English. 
Just  as  there  is  no  word  in  the  Hottentot  vocabulary 
for  "  holiness,"  or  "  purity,"  so  there  are  no  words  in 
our  savage  English  to  describe  a  lady's  dress;  and, 
therefore,  our  fair  friends  must  be  recommended,  on 
this  point,  to  exercise  their  imagination  in  connection 
with  the  study  of  the  finest  French  plates,  and  they 
may  get  some  idea  of  Lillie  in  her  wedding  robe  and 
train. 

Then  there  was  the  wedding  banquet,  where  every 
body  ate  quantities  of  the  most  fashionable,  indigestible 
horrors,  with  praiseworthy  courage  and  enthusiasm ;  for 
what  is  to  become  of  " pate  de  fois  gras"  if  we  don't 
eat  it  ?  What  is  to  become  of  us  if  we  do  is  entirely  a 
secondary  question. 

On  the  whole,  there  was  not  one  jot  nor  tittle  of  the 
most  exorbitant  requirements  of  fashion  that  was  not 
fulfilled  on  this  occasion.  The  house  was  a  crush  of 
wilting  flowers,  and  smelt  of  tuberoses  enough  to  give 
one  a  vertigo  for  a  month.  A  band  of  music  brayed 
and  clashed  every  minute  of  the  time  ;  and  a  jam  of 
people,  in  elegant  dresses,  shrieked  to  each  other  above 
the  din,  and  several  of  Lillie's  former  admirers  got  tipsy 
in  the  supper-room.  In  short,  nothing  could  be  finer ; 


58  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

and  it  was  agreed,  on  all  hands,  that  it  was  "  stunning." 
Accounts  of  it,  and  of  all  the  bride's  dresses,  presents, 
and  even  wardrobe,  went  into  the  daily  papers ;  and 
thus  was  the  charming  Lillie  Ellis  made  into  Mrs.  John 
Seymour. 

Then  followed  the  approved  wedding  journey,  the 
programme  of  which  had  been  drawn  up  by  Lillie  her 
self,  with  carte  blanche  from  John,  and  included  every 
place  where  a  bride's  new  toilets  could  be  seen  in 
the  most  select  fashionable  circles.  They  went  to 
Niagara  and  Trenton,  they  went  to  Newport  and  Sara 
toga,  to  the  White  Mountains  and  Montreal ;  and  Mrs. 
John  Seymour  was  a  meteor  of  fashionable  wonder 
and  delight  at  all  these  places.  Her  dresses  and  her 
diamonds,  her  hats  and  her  bonnets,  were  all  wonderful 
to  behold.  The  stir  and  excitement  that  she  had 
created  as  simple  Miss  Ellis  was  nothing  to  the  stir 
and  excitement  about  Mrs.  John  Seymour.  It  was  the 
mere  grub  compared  with  the  full-blown  butterfly,  — 
the  bud  compared  with  the  rose.  Wherever  she  ap 
peared,  her  old  admirers  flocked  in  her  train.  The 
unmarried  girls  were,  so  to  speak,  nowhere.  Marriage 
was  a  new  lease  of  power  and  splendor,  and  she  revelled 
in  it  like  a  humming-bird  in  the  sunshine. 

And  was  John  equally  happy?  Well,  to  say  the 
truth,  John's  head  was  a  little  turned  by  the  possession 
of  this  curious  and  manifold  creature,  that  fluttered 
and  flapped  her  wings  about  the  eyes  and  ears  of  his 
understanding,  and  appeared  before  him  every  day  in 
Some  new  device  of  the  toilet,  fair  and  fresh ;  smiling 


WEDDING,   AND   WEDDING-TRIP.  59 

and  bewitching,  kissing  and  coaxing,  laughing  and  cry 
ing,  and  in  all  ways  bewildering  him,  the  once  sober- 
minded  John,  till  he  scarce  knew  whether  he  stood  on 
his  head  or  his  heels.  He  knew  that  this  sort  of  rat 
tling,  scatter-brained  life  must  come  to  an  end  some 
time.  He  knew  there  was  a  sober,  serious  life-work 
for  him ;  something  that  must  try  his  rnind  and  soul 
and  strength,  and  that  would,  by  and  by,  leave  him 
neither  time  nor  strength  to  be  the  mere  wandering 
attache  of  a  gay  bird,  whose  string  he  held  in  hand, 
and  who  now  seemed  to  pull  him  hither  and  thither  at 
her  will. 

John  thought  of  all  these  things  at  intervals ;  and 
then,  when  he  thought  of  the  quiet,  sober,  respectable 
life  at  Springdale,  of  the  good  old  staple  families,  with 
their  steady  ways,  —  of  the  girls  in  his  neighborhood 
with  their  reading  societies,  their  sewing-circles  for  the 
poor,  their  book-clubs  and  art-unions  for  practice  in 
various  accomplishments,  —  he  thought,  with  appre 
hension,  that  there  appeared  not  a  spark  of  interest  in 
his  charmer's  mind  for  any  thing  in  this  direction.  She 
never  had  read  any  thing,  —  knew  nothing  on  all  those 
subjects  about  which  the  women  and  young  girls  in  his 
circle  were  interested  ;  while,  in  Springdale,  there  were 
none  of  the  excitements  which  made  her  interested  in 
life.  He  could  not  help  perceiving  that  Lillie's  five 
hundred  particular  friends  were  mostly  of  the  other  sex, 
and  wondering  whether  he  alone,  when  the  matter 
should  be  reduced  to  that,  could  make  up  to  her  for  all 
her  retinue  of  slaves. 


60  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Like  most  good  boys  who  grow  into  good  men,  John 
had  unlimited  faith  in  women.  Whatever  little  de 
fects  and  flaws  they  might  have,  still  at  heart)  he  sup 
posed  they  were  all  of  the  same  substratum  as  his 
mother  and  sister.  The  moment  a  woman  was  mar 
ried,  he  imagined  that  all  the  lovely  domestic  graces 
would  spring  up  in  her,  no  matter  what  might  have 
been  her  previous  disadvantages,  merely  because  she 
was  a  woman.  He  had  no  doubt  of  the  usual  orthodox 
oak-and-ivy  theory  in  relation  to  man  and  woman ;  and 
that  his  wife,  when  he  got  one,  would  be  the  clinging 
ivy  that  would  bend  her  flexible  tendrils  in  the  way  his 
strong  will  and  wisdom  directed.  He  had  never,  per 
haps,  seen,  in  southern  regions,  a  fine  tree  completely 
smothered  and  killed  in  the  embraces  of  a  gay,  flaunt 
ing  parasite ;  and  so  received  no  warning  from  vegeta 
ble  analogies. 

Somehow  or  other,  he  was  persuaded,  he  should 
gradually  bring  his  wife  to  all  his  own  ways  of  think 
ing,  and  all  his  schemes  and  plans  and  opinions.  This 
might,  he  thought,  be  difficult,  were  she  one  of  the 
pronounced,  strong-minded  sort,  accustomed  to  think 
ing  and  judging  for  herself.  Such  a  one,  he  could 
easily  imagine,  there  might  be  a  risk  in  encountering  in 
the  close  intimacy  of  domestic  life.  Even  in  his  deal 
ings  with  his  sister,  he  was  made  aware  of  a  force  of 
character  and  a  vigor  of  intellect  that  sometimes  made 
the  carrying  of  his  own  way  over  hers  a  matter  of  some 
difficulty.  Were  it  not  that  Grace  was  the  best  of 
women,  and  her  ways  always  the  very  best  of  ways, 


WEDDING,  AND    WEDDING-TRIP.  61 

John  was  not  so  sure  but  that  she  might  prove  a  little 
too  masterful  for  him. 

But  this  lovely  bit  of  pink  and  white ;  this  downy, 
gauzy,  airy  little  elf;  this  creature,  so  slim  and  slender 
and  unsubstantial,  —  surely  he  need  have  no  fear  that 
he  could  not  mould  and  control  and  manage  her  ?  Oh, 
no !  He  imagined  her  melting,  like  a  moon-beam,  into 
all  manner  of  sweet  compliances,  becoming  an  image 
and  reflection  of  his  own  better  self;  and  repeated  to 
himself  the  lines  of  Wordsworth,  — 

"  I  saw  her,  on  a  nearer  view, 
A  spirit,  yet  a  woman  too,  — 
Her  household  motions  light  and  free, 
And  steps  of  virgin  liberty. 
A  creature  not  too  bright  or  good 
For  human  nature's  daily  food, 
For  transient  pleasures,  simple  wiles, 
Praise,  blame,  love,  kisses,  tears,  and  smiles." 

John  fancied  he  saw  his  little  Lillie  subdued  into  a 
pattern  wife,  weaned  from  fashionable  follies,  eagerly 
seeking  mental  improvement  under  his  guidance,  and 
joining  him  and  Grace  in  all  sorts  of  edifying  works 
and  ways. 

The  reader  may  see,  from  the  conversations  we  have 
detailed,  that  nothing  was  farther  from  Lillie's  in 
tentions  than  any  such  conformity. 

The  intentions  of  the  married  pair,  in  fact,  ran 
exactly  contrary  to  one  another.  John  meant  to  bring 
Lillie  to  a  sober,  rational,  useful  family  life ;  and  Lillie 
meant  to  run  a  career  of  fashionable  display,  and  make 
John  pay  for  it. 


62  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Neither,  at  present,  stated  their  purposes  precisely 
to  the  other,  because  they  were  "honey-mooning." 
John,  as  yet,  was  the  enraptured  lover ;  and  Lillie  was 
his  pink  and  white  sultana,  —  his  absolute  mistress, 
her  word  was  law,  and  his  will  was  hers.  How  the 
case  was  ever  to  be  reversed,  so  as  to  suit  the  terms  of 
the  marriage  service,  John  did  not  precisely  inquire. 

But,  when  husband  and  wife  start  in  life  with  exactly 
opposing  intentions,  which,  think  you,  is  likely  to  con 
quer,  —  the  man,  or  the  woman  ?  That  is  a  very  nice 
question,  and  deserves  further  consideration. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

HONEY-MOON,  AND  AFTER. 

T  T  7"E  left  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Seymour  honey-moon- 

*  »  ing.  The  honey-moon,  dear  ladies,  is  supposed 
to  be  the  period  of  male  subjection.  The  young  queen 
is  enthroned ;  and  the  first  of  her  slaves  walks  obe 
diently  in  her  train,  carries  her  fan,  her  parasol,  runs  of 
her  errands,  packs  her  trunk,  writes  her  letters,  buys 
her  any  thing  she  cries  for,  and  is  ready  to  do  the 
impossible  for  her,  on  every  suitable  occasion. 

A  great  strong  man  sometimes  feels  awkwardly,  when 
thus  led  captive  ;  but  the  greatest,  strongest,  and  most 
boastful,  often  go  most  obediently  under  woman-rule ; 
for  which,  see  Shakspeare,  concerning  Cleopatra  and 
Julius  Caesar  and  Mark  Antony. 

But  then  all  kingdoms,  and  all  sway,  and  all  au 
thority  must  come  to  an  end.  Nothing  lasts,  you  see. 
The  plain  prose  of  life  must  have  its  turn,  after  the 
poetry  and  honey-moons — stretch  them  out  to  their 
utmost  limit  —  have  their  terminus. 

So,  at  the  end  of  six  weeks,  John  and  Lillie,  some 
what  dusty  and  travel-worn,  were  received  by  Grace 
into  the  old  family-mansion  at  Springdale. 


64  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Grace  had  read  her  Bible  and  Fenelon  to  such  purpose, 
that  she  had  accepted  her  cross  with  open  arms. 

Dear  reader,  Grace  was  not  a  severe,  angular,  old- 
maid  sister,  ready  to  snarl  at  the  advent  of  a  young' 
beauty ;  but  an  elegant  and  accomplished  woman,  with 
a  wide  culture,  a  trained  and  disciplined  mind,  a  charm 
ing  taste,  and  polished  manners;  and,  above  all,  a 
thorough  self-understanding  and  discipline.  Though 
past  thirty,  she  still  had  admirers  and  lovers ;  yet,  till 
now,  her  brother,  insensibly  to  herself,  had  blocked  up 
the  doorway  of  her  heart ;  and  the  perfectness  of  the 
fraternal  friendship  had  prevented  the  wish  and  the 
longing  by  which  some  fortunate  man  might  have  found 
and  given  happiness. 

Grace  had  resolved  she  would  love  her  new  sister ; 
that  she  would  look  upon  all  her  past  faults  and  errors 
with  eyes  of  indulgence ;  that  she  would  put  out  of  her 
head  every  story  she  ever  had  heard  against  her,  and 
unite  with  her  brother  to  make  her  lot  a  happy  one. 

"John  is  so  good  a  man,"  she  said  to  Miss  Letitia 
Ferguson,  "  that  I  am  sure  Lillie  cannot  but  become  a 
good  woman." 

So  Grace  adorned  the  wedding  with  her  presence,  in 
an  elegant  Parisian  dress,  ordered  for  the  occasion,  and 
presented  the  young  bride  with  a  set  of  pearl  and 
amethyst  that  were  perfectly  bewitching,  and  kisses 
and  notes  of  affection  had  been  exchanged  between 
them ;  and  during  various  intervals,  and  for  weeks  past, 
Grace  had  been  pleasantly  employed  in  preparing  the 
family-mansion  to  receive  the  new  mistress. 


HONEY-MOON,   AND  AFTER.  65 

John's  bachelor  apartments  had  been  new  furnished, 
and  furbished,  and  made  into  a  perfect  bower  of  roses. 

The  rest  of  the  house,  after  the  usual  household  pro 
cess  of  purification,  had  been  rearranged,  as  John  and  ^ 
his  sister  had  always  kept  it  since  their  mother's  death 
in  the  way  that  she  loved  to  see  it.  There  was  some 
thing  quaint  and  sweet  and  antique  about  it,  that  suited 
Grace.  Its  unfashionable  difference  from  the  smart,  flip 
pant,  stereotyped  rooms  of  to-day  had  a  charm  in  her 
eyes. 

Lillie,  however,  surveyed  the  scene,  the  first  night 
that  she  took  possession,  with  a  quiet  determination  to 
re-modernize  on  the  very  earliest  opportunity.  What 
would  Mrs.  Frippit  and  Mrs.  Nippit  say  to  such  rooms, 
she  thought.  But  then  there  was  time  enough  to 
attend  to  that.  Not  a  shade  of  these  internal  re 
flections  was  visible  in  her  manner.  She  said,  "Oh, 
how  sweet!  How  perfectly  charming!  How  splen 
did  ! "  in  all  proper  places  ;  and  John  was  delighted. 

She  also  fell  into  the  arms  of  Grace,  and  kissed  her 
with  effusion ;  and  John  saw  the  sisterly  union,  which 
he  had  anticipated,  auspiciously  commencing. 

The  only  trouble  in  Grace's  mind  was  from  a  terrible 
sort  of  clairvoyance  that  seems  to  beset  very  sincere 
people,  and  makes  them  sensitive  to  the  presence  of 
any  thing  unreal  or  untrue.  Fair  and  soft  and  caress 
ing  as  the  new  sister  was,  and  determined  as  Grace 
was  to  believe  in  her,  and  trust  her,  and  like  her,  —  she 
found  an  invisible,  chilly  barrier  between  her  heart  and 
Lillie.  She  scolded  herself,  and,  in  the  effort  to  confide, 


66  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

became  unnaturally  demonstrative,  and  said  and  did 
more  than  was  her  wont  to  show  affection ;  and  yet, 
to  her  own  mortification,  she  found  herself,  after  all, 
seeming  to  herself  to  be  hypocritical,  and  professing 
more  than  she  felt. 

As  to  the  fair  Lillie,  who,  as  we  have  remarked,  was 
no  fool,  she  took  the  measure  of  her  new  sister  with 
that  instinctive  knowledge  of  character  which  is  the 
essence  of  womanhood.  Lillie  was  not  in  love  with 
John,  because  that  was  an  experience  she  was  not  capa 
ble  of.  But  she  had  married  him,  and  now  considered 
him  as  her  property,  her  subject,  — hers,  with  an  inten 
sity  of  ownership  that  should  shut  out  all  former  pro 
prietors. 

We  have  heard  much  talk,  of  late,  concerning  the 
husband's  ownership  of  the  wife.  But,  dear  ladies,  is  that 
any  more  pronounced  a  fact  than  every  wife's  ownership 
of  her  husband  ?  —  an  ownership  so  intense  and  pervad 
ing  that  it  may  be  said  to  be  the  controlling  nerve  of 
womanhood.  Let  any  one  touch  your  right  to  the  first 
place  in  your  husband's  regard,  and  see ! 

Well,  then,  Lillie  saw  at  a  glance  just  what  Grace 
was,  and  what  her  influence  with  her  brother  must  be  ; 
and  also  that,  in  order  to  live  the  life  she  meditated, 
John  must  act  under  her  sway,  and  not  under  his 
sister's;  and  so  the  resolve  had  gone  forth,  in  her 
mind,  that  Grace's  dominion  in  the  family  should  come 
to  an  end,  and  that  she  would,  as  sole  empress,  recon 
struct  the  state.  But,  of  course,  she  was  too  wise  to 
say  a  word  about  it. 


HONEY-MOON,  AND  AFTER.  67 

"  Dear  me  ! "  she  said,  the  next  morning,  when  Grace 
proposed  showing  her  through  the  house  and  delivering 
up  the  keys,  "  I  'm  sure  I  don't  see  why  you  want  to  show 
things  to  me.  I  'm  nothing  of  a  housekeeper,  you  know : 
all  I  know  is  what  I  want,  and  I  've  always  had  what  I 
wanted,  you  know ;  but,  you  see,  I  haven't  the  least 
idea  how  it 's  to  be  done.  Why,  at  home  I  Ve  been 
everybody's  baby.  Mamma  laughs  at  the  idea  of  my 
knowing  any  thing.  So,  Grace  dear,  you  must  just  be 
prime  minister ;  and  I  '11  be  the  good-for-nothing  Queen, 
and  just  sign  the  papers,  and  all  that,  you  know." 

Grace  found,  the  first  week,  that  to  be  housekeeper 
to  a  young  duchess,  in  an  American  village  and  with 
American  servants,  was  no  sinecure. 

The  young  mistress,  the  next  week,  tumbled  into  the 
wash  an  amount  of  muslin  and  lace  and  French  puffing 
and  fluting  sufficient  to  employ  two  artists  for  two  or 
three  days,  and  by  which  honest  Bridget,  as  she  stood 
at  her  family  wash-tub,  was  sorely  perplexed. 

But,  in  America,  no  woman  ever  dies  for  want  of 
speaking  her  mind ;  and  the  lower  orders  have  their  turn 
in  teaching  the  catechism  to  their  superiors,  which  they 
do  with  an  effectiveness  that  does  credit  to  democracy. 

"  And  would  ye  be  plased  to  step  here,  Miss  Say- 
mour,"  said  Bridget  to  Grace,  in  a  voice  of  suppressed 
emotion,  and  pointing  oratorically,  with  her  soapy  right 
arm,  to  a  snow-wreath  of  French  finery  and  puffing  on 
the  floor.  "  What  I  asks,  Miss  Grace,  is,  Who  is  to  do 
all  this  ?  I  'm  sure  it  would  take  me  and  Katy  a  week, 
workin'  day  and  night,  let  alone  the  cookin'  and  the  silver 


68 


PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 


"  Who  is  to  do  all  this  ?  " 

and  the  beds,  and  all  them.  It 's  a  pity,  now,  somebody 
shouldn't  spake  to  that  young  crather  ;  fur  she 's  nothin' 
but  a  baby,  and  likely  don't  know  any  thing,  as  ladies 
mostly  don't,  about  what 's  right  and  proper."  Bridget's 
Christian  charity  and  condescension  in  this  last  sen 
tence  was  some  mitigation  of  the  crisis  ;  but  still  Grace 
was  appalled.  We  all  of  us,  my  dear  sisters,  have  stood 
appalled  at  the  tribunal  of  good  Bridgets  rising  in  their 
majesty  and  declaring  their  ultimatum. 


HONEY-MOON,   AND  AFTER.  69 

Bridget  was  a  treasure  in  the  town  of  Springdale, 
where  servants  were  scarce  and  poor  ;  and,  what  was 
more,  she  was  a  treasure  that  knew  her  own  worth. 
Grace  knew  very  well  how  she  had  been  beset  with  ap 
plications  and  offers  of  higher  wages  to  draw  her  to  vari 
ous  hotels  and  boarding-houses  in  the  vicinity,  but  had 
preferred  the  comparative  dignity  and  tranquillity  of  a 
private  gentleman's  family. 

But  the  family  had  been  small,  orderly,  and  syste 
matic,  and  Grace  the  most  considerate  of  housekeepers. 
Still  it  was  not  to  be  denied,  that,  though  an  indulgent 
and  considerate  mistress,  Bridget  was,  in  fact,  mistress 
of  the  Seymour  mansion,  and  that  her  mind  and  will 
concerning  the  washing  must  be  made  known  to  the 
young  queen. 

It  was  a  sore  trial  to  speak  to  Lillie ;  but  it  would  be 
sorer  to  be  left  at  once  desolate  in  the  kitchen  depart 
ment,  and  exposed  to  the  marauding  inroads  of  unskilled 
Hibernians. 

In  the  most  delicate  way,  Grace  made  Lillie  ac 
quainted  with  the  domestic  crisis ;  as,  in  old  times,  a 
prime  minister  might  have  carried  to  one  of  the 
Charleses  the  remonstrance  and  protest  of  the  House 
of  Commons. 

"  Oh  !  I  'm  sure  I  don't  know  how  it 's  to  be  done, " 
said  Lillie,  gayly.  "  Mamma  always  got  my  things  .done 
somehow.  They  always  were  done,  and  always  must 
be  :  you  just  tell  her  so.  I  think  it 's  always  best  to 
be  decided  with  servants.  Face  'em  down  in  the  be 
ginning." 


70  PINK  AND  WHITE  TYRANNY. 

"  But  you  see,  Lillie  dear,  it 's  almost  impossible  to  get 
servants  at  all  in  Springdale ;  and  such  servants  as  ours 
everybody  says  are  an  exception.  If  we  talk  to  Bridget 
in  that  way,  she  '11  just  go  off  and  leave  us ;  and  then 
what  shall  we  do  ?  " 

"  What  in  the  world  does  John  want  to  live  in  such 
a  place  for  ?  "  said  Lillie,  peevishly.  "  There  are  plenty 
of  servants  to  be  got  in  New  York ;  and  that 's  the  only 
place  fit  to  live  in.  Well,  it 's  no  affair  of  mine  !  Tell 
John  he  married  me,  and  must  take  care  of  me.  He 
must  settle  it  some  way:  I  shan't  trouble  my  head 
about  it." 

The  idea  of  living  in  New  York,  and  uprooting  the 
old  time-honored  establishment  in  Springdale,  struck 
Grace  as  a  sort  of  sacrilege ;  yet  she  could  not  help 
feeling,  with  a  kind  of  fear,  that  the  young  mistress  had 
power  to  do  it. 

"  Don't,  darling,  talk  so,  for  pity's  sake,"  she  said. 
"  I  will  go  to  John,  and  we  will  arrange  it  somehow." 

A  long  consultation  with  faithful  John,  in  the  evening, 
revealed  to  him  the  perplexing  nature  of  the  material 
processes  necessary  to  get  up  his  fair  puff  of  thistle- 

wn  in  all  that  wonderful  whiteness  and  fancifulness 
of  costume  which  had  so  entranced  him. 

Lillie  cried,  and  said  she  never  had  any  trouble  before 
about  "  getting  her  things  done."  She  was  sure  mamma 
or  Trixie  or  somebody  did  them,  or  got  them  done,  — 
she  never  knew  how  or  when.  With  many  tears  and 
sobs,  she  protested  her  ardent  desire  to  realize  the 
Scriptural  idea  of  the  fowls  of  the  air  and  the  lilies  of 


HONEY-MOON,   AND  AFTER.  71 

the  field,  which  were  fed  and  clothed,  "  like  Solomon  in 
all  his  glory,"  without  ever  giving  a  moment's  care  to 
the  matter. 

John  kissed  and  embraced,  and  wiped  away  her  tears, 
and  declared  she  should  have  every  thing  just  as  she 
desired  it,  if  it  took  the  half  of  his  kingdom. 

After  consoling  his  fair  one,  he  burst  into  Grace's 
room  in  the  evening,  just  at  the  hour  when  they  used  to 
have  their  old  brotherly  and  sisterly  confidential  talks. 

"  You  see,  Grace,  —  poor  Lillie,  dear  little  thing,  — 
you  don't  know  how  distressed  she  is;  and,  Grace,  we 
must  find  somebody  to  do  up  all  her  fol-de-rols  and  fiz 
gigs  for  her,  you  know.  You  see,  she's  been  used  to 
this  kind  of  thing ;  can't  do  without  it." 

"Well,  I'll  try  to-morrow,  John,"  said  Grace,  patiently. 
"  There  is  Mrs.  Atkins,  —  she  is  a  very  nice  woman." 

"Oh,  exactly!  just  the  thing,"  said  John.  "Yes, 
we'll  get  her  to  take  all  Lillie's  things  every  week. 
That  settles  it." 

"  Do  you  know,  John,  at  the  prices  that  Mrs.  Atkins 
asks,  you  will  have  to  pay  more  than  for  all  your  family 
service  together  ?  What  we  have  this  week  would  be 
twenty  dollars,  at  the  least  computation;  and  it  is 
worth  it  too,  —  the  work  of  getting  up  is  so  elaborate." 

John  opened  his  eyes,  and  looked  grave.  Like  all 
stable  New-England  families,  the  Seymours,  while  they 
practised  the  broadest  liberality,  had  instincts  of  great 
sobriety  in  expense.  Needless  profusion  shocked  them 
as  out  of  taste;  and  a  quiet  and  decent  reticence  in 
matters  of  self-indulgence  was  habitual  with  them. 


72  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Such  a  price  for  the  fine  linen  of  his  little  angel 
rather  staggered  him ;  but  he  gulped  it  down. 

"  Well,  well,  Gracie,"  he  said,  "  cost  what  it  may,  she 
must  have  it  as  she  likes  it.  The  little  creature,  you 
see,  has  never  been  accustomed  to  calculate  or  reflect  in 
these  matters;  and  it  is  trial  enough  to  come  down 
to  our  stupid  way  of  living,  —  so  different,  you  know, 
from  the  gay  life  she  has  been  leading." 

Miss  Seymour's  saintship  was  somewhat  rudely  tested 
by  this  remark.  That  anybody  should  think  it  a  sacri 
fice  to  be  John's  wife,  and  a  trial  to  accept  the  home 
stead  at  Springdale,  with  all  its  tranquillity  and  comforts, 
—  that  John,  under  her  influence,  should  speak  of  the 
Springdale  life  as  stupid,  —  was  a  little  drop  too  much 
in  her  cup.  A  bright  streak  appeared  in  either  cheek,  as 
she  said,  — 

"Well,  John,  I  never  knew  you  found  Springdale 
stupid  before.  I  'm  sure,  we  have  been  happy  here,"  — 
and  her  voice  quavered. 

"Pshaw,  Gracie!  you  know  what  I  mean.  I  don't 
mean  that  ./find  it  stupid.  I  don't  like  the  kind  of  rat 
tle-brained  life  we  've  been  leading  this  six  weeks.  But, 
then,  it  just  suits  Lillie;  and  it's  so  sweet  and  patient 
of  her  to  come  here  and  give  it  all  up,  and  say  not 
a  word  of  regret ;  and  then,  you  see,  I  shall  be  just  up 
to  my  ears  in  business  now,  and  can't  give  up  all  my 
time  to  her,  as  I  have.  There's  ever  so  much  law 
business  coming  on,  and  all  the  factory  matters  at 
Spindlewood ;  and  I  can  see  that  Lillie  will  have  rather 
a  hard  time  of  it.  You  must  devote  yourself  to  her, 


HONEY-MOON,   AND  AFTER.  73 

Gracie,  like  a  dear,  good  soul,  as  you  always  were,  and 
try  to  get  her  interested  in  our  kind  of  life.  Of  course, 
all  our  set  will  call,  and  that  will  be  something;  and 
then  —  there  will  be  some  invitations  out." 

"  Oh,  yes,  John !  we  '11  manage  it,"  said  Grace,  who 
had  by  this  time  swallowed  her  anger,  and  shouldered 
her  cross  once  more  with  a  womanly  perseverance. 
"Oh,  yes!  the  Fergusons,  and  the  Wilcoxes,  and  the 
Lennoxes,  will  all  call;  and  we  shall  have  picnics,  and 
lawn  teas,  and  musicals,  and  parties." 

"Yes,  yes,  I  see,"  said  John.  "Gracie,  isn't  she  a 
dear  little  thing?  Didn't  she  look  cunning  in  that 
white  wrapper  this  morning?  How  do  women  do 
those  things,  I  wonder?"  said  John.  "Don't  you 
think  her  manners  are  lovely?" 

"  They  are  very  sweet,  and  she  is  charmingly  pretty," 
said  Grace ;  "  and  I  love  her  dearly." 

"  And  so  affectionate !  Don't  you  think  so  ?  "  contin 
ued  John.  "  She 's  a  person  that  you  can  do  any  thing 
with  through  her  heart.  She 's  all  heart,  and  very  little 
head.  I  ought  not  to  say  that,  either.  I  think  she  has 
fair  natural  abilities,  had  they  ever  been  cultivated." 

"  My  dear  John,"  said  Grace,  "  you  forget  what  time 
it  is.  Good-night ! " 


CHAPTER    VII. 

WILL    SHE   LIKE   IT? 

"  TOHN,"  said  Grace,  "  when  are  you  going  out  again 
*J  to  our  Sunday  school  at  Spindlewood?  They  are 
all  asking  after  you.  Do  you  know  it  is  now  two 
months  since  they  have  seen  you?" 

"  I  know  it,"  said  John.  "  I  am  going  to-morrow. 
You  see,  Gracie,  I  couldn't  well  before." 

"  Oh !  I  have  told  them  all  about  it,  and  I  have  kept 
things  up;  but  then  there  are  so  many  who  want  to 
see  you,  and  so  many  things  that  you  alone  could 
settle  and  manage." 

"Oh,  yes!  I'll  go  to-morrow,"  said  John.  "And, 
after  this,  I  shall  be  steady  at  it.  I  wonder  if  we 
could  get  Lillie  to  go,"  said  he,  doubtfully. 

Grace  did  not  answer.  Lillie  was  a  subject  on  which 
it  was  always  embarrassing  to  her  to  be  appealed  to. 
She  was  so  afraid  of  appearing  jealous  or  unapprecia- 
tive ;  and  her  opinions  were  so  different  from  those  of 
her  brother,  that  it  was  rather  difficult  to  say  any 
thing. 

"  Do  you  think  she  would  like  it,  Grace  ?  " 

"  Indeed,  John,  you  must  know  better  than  I.     If 


WILL   SHE  LIKE  IT?  75 

anybody  could  make  her  take  an  interest  in  it,  it  would 
be  you." 

Before  his  marriage,  John  had  always  had  the  idea 
that  pretty,  affectionate  little  women  were  religious  and 
self-denying  at  heart,  as  matters  of  course.  No  matter 
through  what  labyrinths  of  fashionable  follies  and  dis 
sipation  they  had  been  wandering,  still  a  talent  for 
saintship  was  lying  dormant  in  their  natures,  which  it 
needed  only  the  touch  of  love  to  develop.  The  wings 
of  the  angel  were  always  concealed  under  the  fashion 
able  attire  of  the  belle,  and  would  unfold  themselves 
when  the  hour  came.  A  nearer  acquaintance  with 
Lillie.  he  was  forced  to  confess,  had  not,  so  far,  confirmed 
this  idea.  Though  hers  was  a  face  so  fair  and  pure 
that,  when  he  first  knew  her,  it  suggested  ideas  of 
prayer,  and  communion  with  angels,  yet  he  could  not 
disguise  from  himself  that,  in  all  near  acquaintance 
with  her,  she  had  proved  to  be  most  remarkably  "  of 
the  earth,  earthy."  She  was  alive  and  fervent  about 
fashionable  gossip,  —  of  who  is  who,  and  what  does 
what;  she  was  alive  to  equipages,  to  dress,  to  sight 
seeing,  to  dancing,  to  any  thing  of  which  the  whole 
stimulus  and  excitement  was  earthly  and  physical.  At 
times,  too,  he  remembered  that  she  had  talked  a  sort 
of  pensive  sentimentalism,  of  a  slightly  religious  nature ; 
but  the  least  idea  of  a  moral  purpose  in  life  —  of  self- 
denial,  and  devotion  to  something  higher  than  imme 
diate  self-gratification  —  seemed  never  to  have  entered 
her  head.  What  is  more,  John  had  found  his  attempts 
to  introduce  such  topics  with  her  always  unsuccessful. 


76  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Lillie  either  gaped  in  his  face,  and  asked  him  what  time 
it  was ;  or  playfully  pulled  his  whiskers,  and  asked  him 
why  he  didn't  take  to  the  ministry ;  or  adroitly  turned 
the  conversation  with  kissing  and  compliments. 

Sunday  morning  came,  shining  down  gloriously 
through  the  dewy  elm-arches  of  Springdale.  The  green 
turf  on  either  side  of  the  wide  streets  was  mottled  and 
flecked  with  vivid  flashes  and  glimmers  of  emerald,  like 
the  sheen  of  a  changeable  silk,  as  here  and  there  long 
arrows  of  sunlight  darted  down  through  the  leaves 
and  touched  the  ground. 

The  gardens  between  the  great  shady  houses  that 
flanked  the  street  were  full  of  tall  white  and  crimson 
phloxes  in  all  the  majesty  of  their  summer  bloom,  and 
the  air  was  filled  with  fragrance ;  and  Lillie,  after  a 
two  hours'  toilet,  came  forth  from  her  chamber  fresh 
and  lovely  as  the  bride  in  the  Canticles.  "  Thou  art  all 
fair,  my  love ;  there  is  no  spot  in  thee."  She  was  kill- 
ingly  dressed  in  the  rural-simplicity  style.  All  her  robes 
and  sashes  were  of  purest  white ;  and  a  knot  of  field- 
daisies  and  grasses,  with  French  dew-drops  on  them, 
twinkled  in  an  infinitesimal  bonnet  on  her  little  head, 
and  her  hair  was  all  creped  into  a  filmy  golden  aureole 
round  her  face.  In  short,  dear  reader,  she  was  a  per 
fectly  got-up  angel,  and  wanted  only  some  tulle  clouds 
and  an  opening  heaven  to  have  gone  up  at  once,  as 
similar  angels  do  from  the  Parisian  stage. 

"  You  like  me,  don't  you  ?  "  she  said,  as  she  saw  the 
delight  in  John's  eyes. 

John  was  tempted  to  lay  hold  of  his  plaything. 


WILL   SHE  LIKE  IT?  77 

"  Don't,  now,  —  you  '11  crumple  me,"  she  said,  fight 
ing  him  off  with  a  dainty  parasol.  "Positively  you 
shan't  touch  me  till  after  church." 

John  laid  the  little  white  hand  on  his  arm  with  pride, 
and  looked  down  at  her  over  his  shoulder  all  the  way 
to  church.  He  felt  proud  of  her.  They  would  look  at 
her,  and  see  how  pretty  she  was,  he  thought.  And  so 
they  did.  Lillie  had  been  used  to  admiration  in  church. 
It  was  one  of  her  fields  of  triumph.  She  had  received 
compliments  on  her  toilet  even  from  young  clergymen, 
who,  in  the  course  of  their  preaching  and  praying,  found 
leisure  to  observe  the  beauties  of  nature  and  grace  in 
their  congregation.  She  had  been  quite  used  to  know 
ing  of  young  men  who  got  good  seats  in  church  simply 
for  the  purpose  of  seeing  her ;  consequently,  going  to 
church  had  not  the  moral  advantages  for  her  that  it  has 
for  people  who  go  simply  to  pray  and  be  instructed. 
John  saw  the  turning  of  heads,  and  the  little  move 
ments  and  whispers  of  admiration ;  and  his  heart  was 
glad  within  him.  The  thought  of  her  mingled  with 
prayer  and  hymn ;  even  when  he  closed  his  eyes,  and 
bowed  his  head,  she  was  there. 

Perhaps  this  was  not  exactly  as  it  should  be ;  yet  let 
us  hope  the  angels  look  tenderly  down  on  the  sins  of 
too  much  love.  John  felt  as  if  he  would  be  glad  of  a 
chance  to  die  for  her ;  and,  when  he  thought  of  her  in 
his  prayers,  it  was  because  he  loved  her  better  than 
himself. 

As  to  Lillie,  there  was  an  extraordinary  sympathy  of 
(  sentiment  between  them  at  that  moment.    John  was 


78  PINK  AND  WHITE  TYRANNY. 

thinking  only  of  her ;  and  she  was  thinking  only  of  her 
self,  as  was  her  usual  habit,  —  herself,  the  one  object  of 
her  life,  the  one  idol  of  her  love. 

Not  that  she  knew,  in  so  many  words,  that  she,  the 
little,  frail  bit  of  dust  and  ashes  that  she  was,  was  her 
own  idol,  and  that  she  appeared  before  her  Maker,  in 
those  solemn  walls,  to  draw  to  herself  the  homage  and 
the  attention  that  was  due  to  God  alone ;  but  yet  it  was 
true  that,  for  years  and  years,  Lillie's  unconfessed  yet 
only  motive  for  appearing  in  church  had  been  the  dis 
play  of  herself,  and  the  winning  of  admiration. 

But  is  she  so  much  worse  than  others  ?  —  than  the 
clergyman  who  uses  the  pulpit  and  the  sacred  office  to 
show  off  his  talents  ?  —  than  the  singers  who  sing  God's 
praises  to  show  their  voices,  —  who  intone  the  agonies 
of  their  Redeemer,  or  the  glories  of  the  Te  Deum, 
confident  on  the  comments  of  the  newspaper  press  on 
their  performance  the  next  week  ?  No  :  Lillie  may  be 
a  little  sinner,  but  not  above  others  in  this  matter. 

"Lillie,"  said  John  to  her  after  dinner,  assuming  a 
careless,  matter-of-course  air,  "  would  you  like  to  drive 
with  me  over  to  Spindle  wood,  and  see  my  Sunday 
school  ?  " 

"  Your  Sunday  school,  John  ?  Why,  bless  me !  do 
you  teach  Sunday  school  ?  " 

"  Certainly  I  do.  Grace  and  I  have  a  school  of  two 
hundred  children  and  young  people  belonging  to  our 
factories.  I  am  superintendent." 

"  I  never  did  hear  of  any  thing  so  odd  ! "  said  Lillie. 
"  What  in  the  world  can  you  want  to  take  all  that  trou- 


WILL   SHE  LIKE  IT?  79 

ble  for,  —  go  basking  over  there  in  the  hot  sun,  and  be 
shut  up  with  a  room  full  of  those  ill-smelling  factory- 
people?  Why,  I'm  sure  it  can't  be  your  duty!  I 
wouldn't  do  it  for  the  world.  Nothing  would  tempt 
me.  Why,  gracious,  John,  you  might  catch  small-pox 
or  something!" 

"  Pooh !  Lillie,  child,  you  don't  know  any  thing  about 
them.  They  are  just  as  cleanly  and  respectable  as  any 
body." 

"  Oh,  well !  they  may  be.  But  these  Irish  and  Ger 
mans  and  Swedes  and  Danes,  and  all  that  low  class,  do 
smell  so,  —  you  needn't  tell  me,  now  !  — that  working- 
class  smell  is  a  thing  that  can't  be  disguised." 

"  But,  Lillie,  these  are  our  people.  They  are  the 
laborers  from  whose  toils  our  wealth  comes ;  and  we 
owe  them  something." 

"  Well !  you  pay  them  something,  don't  you  ?  " 

"  I  mean  morally.  We  owe  our  efforts  to  instruct 
their  children,  and  to  elevate  and  guide  them.  Lillie, 
I  feel  that  it  is  wrong  for  us  to  use  wealth  merely  as 
a  means  of  self-gratification.  We  ought  to  labor  for 
those  who  labor  for  us.  We  ought  to  deny  ourselves, 
and  make  some  sacrifices  of  ease  for  their  good." 

"  You  dear  old  preachy  creature !  "  said  Lillie.  "  How 
good  you  must  be !  But,  really,  I  haven't  the  smallest 
vocation  to  be  a  missionary,  —  not  the  smallest.  I 
can't  think  of  any  thing  that  would  induce  me  to  take 
a  long,  hot  ride  in  the  sun,  and  to  sit  in  that  stived-up 
room  with  those  common  creatures." 

John  looked  grave.    "  Lillie,"  he  said, "  you  shouldn't 


80  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

speak  of  any  of  your  fellow-beings  in  that  heartless 
way." 

"  Well  now,  if  you  are  going  to  scold  me,  I  'm  sure  I 
don't  want  to  go.  I  'm  sure,  if  everybody  that  stays  at 
home,  and  has  comfortable  times,  Sundays,  instead  of 
going  out  on  mis-sions,  is  heartless,  there  are  a  good 
many  heartless  people  in  the  world." 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  my  darling.  I  didn't  mean, 
dear,  that  you  were  heartless,  but  that  what  you  said 
sounded  so.  I  knew  you  didn't  really  mean  it.  I 
didn't  ask  you,  dear,  to  go  to  work,  —  only  to  be  com 
pany  for  me." 

"  And  I  ask  you  to  stay  at  home,  and  be  company 
for  me.  I  'm  sure  it  is  lonesome  enough  here,  and  you 
are  off  on  business  almost  all  your  days ;  and  you  might 
stay  with  me  Sundays.  You  could  hire  some  poor, 
pious  young  man  to  do  all  the  work  over  there.  There 
are  plenty  of  them,  dear  knows,  that  it  would  be  a  real 
charity  to  help,  and  that  could  preach  and  pray  better 
than  you  can,  I  know.  I  don't  think  a  man  that  is  busy 
all  the  week  ought  to  work  Sundays.  It  is  breaking  the 
Sabbath." 

"  But,  Lillie,  I  am  interested  in  my  Sunday  school. 
I  know  all  my  people,  and  they  know  me ;  and  110  one 
else  in  the  world  could  do  for  them  what  I  could." 

"  Well,  I  should  think  you  might  be  interested  in  me  : 
nobody  else  can  do  for  me  what  you  can,  and  I  want 
you  to  stay  with  me.  That's  just  the  way  with  you 
men:  you  don't  care  any  thing  about  us  after  you 
get  us." 


WILL   SHE  LIKE  IT  ?  81 

"  Now,  Lillie,  darling,  you  know  that  isn't  so." 

"  It 's  just  so.  You  care  more  for  your  old  missionary 
work,  now,  than  you  do  for  me.  I'm  sure  I  never 
knew  that  I  'd  married  a  home-missionary." 

"  Darling,  please,  now,  don't  laugh  at  me,  and  try  to 
make  me  selfish  and  worldly.  You  have  such  power 
over  me,  you  ought  to  be  my  inspiration." 

"  I  '11  be  your  common-sense,  John.  When  you  get 
on  stilts,  and  run  benevolence  into  the  ground,  I  '11  pull 
you  down.  Now,  I  know  it  must  be  bad  for  a  man, 
that  has  as  much  as  you  do  to  occupy  his  mind  all  the 
week,  to  go  out  and  work  Sundays ;  and  it 's  foolish, 
when  you  could  perfectly  well  hire  somebody  else  to  do 
it,  and  stay  at  home,  and  have  a  good  time." 

"  But,  Lillie,  I  need  it  myself." 

"  Need  it,  —  what  for  ?    I  can't  imagine." 

"  To  keep  me  from  becoming  a  mere  selfish,  worldly 
man,  and  living  for  mere  material  good  and  pleasure." 

"  You  dear  old  Don  Quixote !  Well,  you  are  alto 
gether  in  the  clouds  above  me.  I  can't  understand  a 
word  of  all  that." 

"  Well,  good-by,  darling,"  said  John,  kissing  her, 
and  hastening  out  of  the  room,  to  cut  short  the  in 
terview. 

Milton  has  described  the  peculiar  influence  of  woman 
over  man,  in  lowering  his  moral  tone,  and  bringing  him 
down  to  what  he  considered  the  peculiarly  womanly 
level.  "You  women,"  he  said  to  his  wife,  when  she 
tried  to  induce  him  to  seek  favors  at  court  by  some 
concession  of  principle,  —  "  you  women  never  care  for 

6 


82  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

any  thing  but  to  be  fine,  and  to  ride  in  your  coaches." 
In  Father  Adam's  description  of  the  original  Eve,  he 

says,  — 

"  All  higher  knowledge  in  her  presence  falls 
Degraded  ;  wisdom,  in  discourse  with  her, 
Loses,  discountenanced,  and  like  folly  shows." 

Something  like  this  effect  was  always  produced  on 
John's  mind  when  he  tried  to  settle  questions  relating 
to  his  higher  nature  with  Lillie.  He  seemed,  somehow, 
always  to  get  the  worst  of  it.  All  her  womanly!vgraces 
and  fascinations,  so  powerful  over  his  senses  and  imagi 
nation,  arrayed  themselves  formidably  against  him, 
and  for  the  time  seemed  to  strike  him  dumb.  What 
he  believed,  and  believed  with  enthusiasm,  when  he 
was  alone,  or  with  Grace,  seemed  to  drizzle  away,  and 
be  belittled,  when  he  undertook  to  convince  her  of  it. 
Lest  John  should  be  called  a  muff  and  a  spoon  for  this 
peculiarity,  we  cite  once  more  the  high  authority  afore 
said,  where  Milton  makes  poor  Adam  tell  the  angel,  — 

"  Yet  when  I  approach 
Her  loveliness,  so  absolute  she  seems 
And  in  herself  complete,  so  well  to  know 
Her  own,  that  what  she  wills  to  do  or  say 
Seems  wisest,  virtuousest,  discreetest,  best." 

John  went  out  from  Lillie's  presence  rather  humbled 
and  over-crowed.  When  the  woman  that  a  man  loves 
laughs  at  his  moral  enthusiasms,  it  is  like  a  black  frost 
on  the  delicate  tips  of  'budding  trees.  It  is  up-hill  work, 
as  we  all  know,  to  battle  with  indolence  and  selfishness, 
and  self-seeking  and  hard-hearted  worldliness.  Then 
the  highest  and  holiest  part  of  our  nature  has  a  bash- 


WILL   SHE  LIKE  IT '  1  83 

fulness  of  its  own.  It  is  a  heavenly  stranger,  and 
easily  shamed.  A  nimble-tongued,  skilful  woman  can 
so  easily  show  the  ridiculous  side  of  what  seemed 
heroism ;  and  what  is  called  common-sense,  so  gener 
ally,  is  only  some  neatly  put  phase  of  selfishness.  Poor 
Jolmfneeded  the  angel  at  his  elbow,  to  give  him  the 
caution  which  he  is  represented  as  giving  to  Father 
Adam :  — 

"  What  transports  thee  so  "? 
An  outside  ?  —  fair,  no  doubt,  and  worthy  well 
Thy  cherishing,  thy  honor,  and  thy  love, 
Not  thy  subjection.     Weigh  her  with  thyself, 
Then  value.     Oft-times  nothing  profits  more 
Than  self-esteem,  grounded  on  just  and  right 
Well  managed  :  of  that  skill  the  more  thou  knowest, 
The  more  she  will  acknowledge  thee  her  head, 
And  to  realities  yield  all  her  shows." 

But  John  had  no  angel  at  his  elbow.  He  was  a 
fellow  with  a  great  heart,  —  good  as  gold,  —  with  up 
ward  aspirations,  but  with  slow  speech  ;  and,  when  not 
sympathized  with,  he  became  confused  and  incoherent, 
and  even  dumb.  So  his  only  way  with  his  little  pink 
and  white  empress  was  immediate  and  precipitate  flight. 

Lillie  ran  to  the  window  when  he  was  gone,  and  saw 
him  and  Grace  get  into  the  carriage  together ;  and  then 
she  saw  them  drive  to  the  old  Ferguson  House,  and 
Rose  Ferguson  came  out  and  got  in  with  them.  "  Well, " 
she  said  to  herself,  "  he  shan't  do  that  many  times 
more,  —  I  'm  resolved." 

No,  she  did  not  say  it.  It  would  be  well  for  us  all 
if  we  did  put  into  words,  plain  and  explicit,  many  in- 


84  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

stinctive  resolves  and  purposes  that  arise  in  our  hearts, 
and  which,  for  want  of  being  so  expressed,  influence  us 
undetected  and  unchallenged.  If  we  would  say  out 
boldly,  "  I  don't  care  for  right  or  wrong,  or  good  or  evil, 
or  anybody's  rights  or  anybody's  happiness,  or  the 
general  good,  or  God  himself,  —  all  I  care  for,  or  feel 
the  least  interest  in,  is  to  have  a  good  time  myself, 
and  I  mean  to  do  it,  come  what  may,"  —  we  should  be 
only  expressing  a  feeling  which  often  lies  in  the  dark 
back-room  of  the  human  heart;  and  saying  it  might 
alarm  us  from  the  drugged  sleep  of  life.  It  might 
rouse  us  to  shake  off  the  slow,  creeping  paralysis  of 
selfishness  and  sin  before  it  is  for  ever  too  late. 

But  Lillie  was  a  creature  who  had  lost  the  power 
of  self-knowledge.  She  was,  my  dear  sir,  what  you 
suppose  the  true  woman  to  be,  —  a  bundle  of  blind 
instincts ;  and  among  these  the  strongest  was  that  of 
property  in  her  husband,  and  power  over  him.  She  had 
lived  in  her  power  over  men ;  it  was  her  field  of  ambition. 
She  knew  them  thoroughly.  Women  are  called  ivy ; 
and  the  ivy  has  a  hundred  little  fingers  in  every  inch  of 
its  length,  that  strike  at  every  flaw  and  crack  and  weak 
place  in  the  strong  wall  they  mean  to  overgrow ;  and 
so  had  Lillie.  She  saw,  at  a  glance,  that  the  sober, 
thoughtful,  Christian  life  of  Springdale  was  wholly  op 
posed  to  the  life  she  wanted  to  lead,  and  in  which  John 
was  to  be  her  instrument.  She  saw  that,  if  such 
women  as  Grace  and  Rose  had  power  with  him,  she 
should  not  have ;  and  her  husband  should  be  hers  alone. 
He  should  do  her  will,  and  be  her  subject,  —  so  she 


WILL   SHE  LIKE  IT?  85 

thought,  smiling  at  herself  as  she  looked  in  the  looking- 
glass,  and  then  curled  herself  peacefully  and  languidly 
down  in  the  corner  of  the  sofa,  and  drew  forth  the 
French  novel  that  was  her  usual  Sunday  companion. 

Lillie  liked  French  novels.  There  was  an  atmos 
phere  of  things  in  them  that  suited  her.  The  young 
married  women  had  lovers  and  admirers;  and  there 
was  the  constant  stimulus  of  being  courted  and  adored, 
under  the  safe  protection  of  a  good-natured  "  mart." 

In  France,  the  flirting  is  all  done  after  marriage,  and 
the  young  girl  looks  forward  to  it  as  her  introduction 
to  a  career  of  conquest.  In  America,  so  great  is  our 
democratic  liberality,  that  we  think  of  uniting  the  two 
systems.  We  are  getting  on  in  that  way  fast.  A 
knowledge  of  French  is  beginning  to  be  considered  as 
the  pearl  of  great  price,  to  gain  which,  all  else  must  be 
sold.  The  girls  must  go  to  the  French  theatre,  and 
be  stared  at  by  French  debauchees,  who  laugh  at  them 
while  they  pretend  they  understand  what,  thank 
Heaven,  they  cannot.  Then  we  are  to  have  series  of 
French  novels,  carefully  translated,  and  puffed  and 
praised  even  by  the  religious  press,  written  by  the 
corps  of  French  female  reformers,  which  will  show  them 
exactly  how  the  naughty  French  women  manage  their 
cards;  so  that,  by  and  by,  we  shall  have  the  latest 
phase  of  eclecticism,  —  the  union  of  American  and 
French  manners.  The  girl  will  flirt  till  twenty  a 
V Americaine^  and  then  marry  and  flirt  till  forty  a  la 
Fran$aise.  This  was  about  Lillie's  plan  of  life.  Could 
she  hope  to  carry  it  out  in  Springdale  ? 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

SPINDLEWOOD. 

TT  seemed  a  little  like  old  times  to  Grace,  to  be  once 
-*-  more  going  with  Rose  and  John  over  the  pretty 
romantic  road  to  Spindlewood. 

John  did  not  reflect  upon  how  little  she  now  saw  of 
him,  and  how  much  of  a  trial  the  separation  was ;  but 
he  noticed  how  bright  and  almost  gay  she  was,  when 
they  were  by  themselves  once  more.  He  was  gay  too. 
In  the  congenial  atmosphere  of  sympathy,  his  confi 
dence  in  himself,  and  his  own  right  in  the  little  contro 
versy  that  had  occurred,  returned.  Not  that  he  said  a 
word  of  it ;  he  did  not  do  so,  and  would  not  have  done 
so  for  the  world.  Grace  and  Rose  were  full  of  anec 
dotes  of  this,  that,  and  the  other  of  their  scholars ;  and 
all  the  particulars  of  some  of  their  new  movements 
were  discussed.  The  people  had,  of  their  own  accord, 
raised  a  subscription  for  a  library,  which  was  to  be 
presented  to  John  that  day,  with  a  request  that  he 
would  select  the  books. 

"  Gracie,  that  must  be  your  work,"  said  John ;  "  you 
know  I  shall  have  an  important  case  next  week." 


SPINDLEWOOD.  87 

i 
"Oh,  yes!  Rose  and  I  will  settle  it,"  said  Grace. 

"Rose,  we'll  get  the  catalogues  from  all  the  book 
stores,  and  mark  the  things." 

"  We  '11  want  books  for  the  children  just  beginning 
to  read ;  and  then  books  for  the  young  men  in  John's 
Bible-class,  and  all  the  way  between,"  said  Rose.  "  It 
will  be  quite  a  work  to  select." 

"And  then  to  bargain  with  the  book-stores,  and 
make  the  money  go  '  far  as  possible,'  "  said  Grace. 

"  And  then  there  '11  be  the  covering  of  the  books," 
said  Rose.  "  I  '11  tell  you.  I  think  I  '11  manage  to 
have  a  lawn  tea  at  our  house ;  and  the  girls  shall  all 
come  early,  and  get  the  books  covered,  —  that'll  be 
charming." 

"  I  think  Lillie  would  like  that,"  put  in  John. 

"  I  should  be  so  glad  ! "  said  Rose.  "  What  a  lovely 
little  thing  she  is !  I  hope  she  '11  like  it.  I  wanted  to 
get  up  something  pretty  for  her.  I  think,  at  this  time 
of  the  year,  lawn  teas  are  a  little  variety." 

"Oh,  she'll  like  it  of  course!"  said  John,  with 
some  sinking  of  heart  about  the  Sunday-school  books. 

There  were  so  many  pressing  to  shake  hands  with 
John,  and  congratulate  him,  so  many  histories  to  tell, 
so  many  cases  presented  for  consultation,  that  it  was 
quite  late  before  they  got  away;  and  tea  had  been 
waiting  for  them  more  than  an  hour  when  they 
returned. 

Lillie  looked  pensive,  and  had  that  indescribable  air 
of  patient  martyrdom  which  some  women  know  how 
to  make  so  very  effective.  Lillie  had  good  general 


88  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

knowledge  of  the  science  of  martyrdom,  —  a  little  spice 
and  flavor  of  it  had  been  gently  infused  at  times  into 
her  demeanor  ever  since  she  had  been  at  Springdale. 
She  could  do  the  uncomplaining  sufferer  with  the  hap 
piest  effect.  She  contrived  to  insinuate  at  times  how 
she  didn't  complain,  —  how  dull  and  slow  she  found 
her  life,  and  yet  how  she  endeavored  to  be  cheerful. 

"I  know,"  she  said  to  John  when  they  were  by 
themselves,  "that  you  and  Grace  both  think  I'm  a 
horrid  creature." 

"  Why,  no,  dearest ;  indeed  we  don't." 

"But  you  do,  though;  oh,  I  feel  it!  The  fact  is, 
John,  I  haven't  a  particle  of  constitution ;  and,  if  I 
should  try  to  go  on  as  Grace  does,  it  would  kill  me  in  a 
month.  Ma  never  would  let  me  try  to  do  any  thing ; 
and,  if  I  did,  I  was  sure  to  break  all  down  under  it : 
but,  if  you  say  so,  I  '11  try  to  go  into  this  school." 

"  Oh,  no,  Lillie  !  I  don't  want  you  to  go  in.  I  know, 
darling,  you  could  not  stand  any  fatigue.  I  only 
wanted  you  to  take  an  interest,  — just  to  go  and  see 
them  for  my  sake." 

"  Well,  John,  if  you  must  go,  and  must  keep  it  up,  I 
must  try  to  go.  I  '11  go  with  you  next  Sunday.  It  will 
make  my  head  ache  perhaps ;  but  no  matter,  if  you 
wish  it.  You  don't  think  badly  of  me,  do  you  ?  "  she 
said  coaxingly,  playing  with  his  whiskers. 

"  No,  darling,  not  the  least." 

"  I  suppose  it  would  be  a  great  deal  better  for  you  if 
you  had  married  a  strong,  energetic  woman,  like  your 
sister.  I  do  admire  her  so ;  but  it  discourages  me." 


SPINDLEWOOD.  89 

"Darling,  I'd  a  thousand  times  rather  have  you 
what  you  are,"  said  John;  for  — 

"  What  she  wills  to  do, 
Seems  wisest,  virtuousest,  discreetest,  best." 

"  O  John  !  come,  you  ought  to  be  sincere." 

"  Sincere,  Lillie  !  I  am  sincere." 

"  You  really  would  rather  have  poor,  poor  little  me 
than  a  woman  like  Gracie,  —  a  great,  strong,  energetic 
woman  ?  "  And  Lillie  laid  her  soft  cheek  down  on  his 
arm  in  pensive  humility. 

"Yes,  a  thousand  million  times,"  said  John  in  his 
enthusiasm,  catching  her  in  his  arms  and  kissing  her. 
"  I  wouldn't  for  the  world  have  you  any  thing  but  the 
darling  little  Lillie  you  are.  I  love  your  faults  more 
than  the  virtues  of  other  women.  You  are  a  thousand 
times  better  than  I  am.  I  am  a  great,  coarse  block 
head,  compared  to  you.  I  hope  I  didn't  hurt  your  feel 
ings  this  noon ;  you  know,  Lillie,  I  'm  hasty,  and  apt  to 
be  inconsiderate.  I  don't  really  know  that  I  ought  to 
let  you  go  over  next  Sunday." 

"  O  John,  you  are  so  good !  Certainly  if  you  go  I 
ought  to ;  and  I  shall  try  my  best."  Then  John  told 
her  all  about  the  books  and  the  lawn  tea,  and  Lillie 
listened  approvingly. 

So  they  had  a  lawn  tea  at  the  Fergusons  that  week, 
where  Lillie  was  the  cynosure  of  all  eyes.  Mr.  Ma- 
thews,  the  new  young  clergyman  of  Springdale,  was 
there.  Mr.  Mathews  had  been  credited  as  one  of  the 
admirers  of  Rose  Ferguson ;  but  on  this  occasion  he 


90  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

promenaded  and  talked  with  Lillie,  and  Lillie  alone, 
with  an  exclusive  devotion. 

"  What  a  lovely  young  creature  your  new  sister  is !  " 
he  said  to  Grace.  "  She  seems  to  have  so  much  relitr- 

*N. 

ious  sensibility." 

"  I  say,  Lillie,"  said  John,  "  Mathews  seemed  to  be 
smitten  with  you.  I  had  a  notion  of  interfering." 

"Did  you  ever  see  any  thing  like  it,  John?  I 
couldn't  shake  the  creature  off.  I  was  so  thankful  when 
you  came  up  and  took  me.  He's  Rose's  admirer,  and 
he  hardly  spoke  a  word  to  her.  I  think  it 's  shameful." 

The  next  Sunday,  Lillie  rode  over  to  Spindlewood 
with  John  and  Rose  and  Mr.  Mathews. 

Never  had  the  picturesque  of  religion  received  more 
lustre  than  from  her  presence.  John  was  delighted  to 
see  how  they  all  gazed  at  her  and  wondered.  Lillie 
looked  like  a  first-rate  French  picture  of  the  youthful 
Madonna,  —  white,  pure,  and  patient.  The  day  was 
hot,  and  the  hall  crowded  ;  and  John  noticed,  what  he 
never  did  before,  the  close  smell  and  confined  air,  and 
it  made  him  uneasy.  When  we  are  feeling  with  the 
nerves  of  some  one  else,  we  notice  every  roughness  and 
inconvenience.  John  thought  he  had  never  seen  his 
school  appear  so  little  to  advantage.  Yet  Lillie  was  an 
image  of  patient  endurance,  trying  to  be  pleased  ;  and 
John  thought  her,  as  she  sat  and  did  nothing,  more  of 
a  saint  than  Rose  and  Grace,  who  were  laboriously 
sorting  books,  and  gathering  around  them  large  classes 
of  factory  boys,  to  whom  they  talked  with  an  exhaust 
ing  devotedness. 


SPINDLEWOOD.  91 

When  all  was  over,  Lillie  sat  back  on  the  carriage- 
cushions,  and  smelled  at  her  gold  vinaigrette. 

"  You  are  all  worn  out,  dear,"  said  John,  tenderly. 

"  It 's  no  matter,"  she  said  faintly. 

"  O  Lillie  darling !  does  your  head  ache  ?  " 

"  A  little,  —  you  know  it  was  close  in  there.  I  'm 
very  sensitive  to  such  things.  I  don't  think  they  affect 
others  as  they  do  me,"  said  Lillie,  with  the  voice  of  a 
dying  zephyr. 

" Lillie,  it  is  not  your  duty  to  go"  said  John ;  " if  you 
are  not  made  ill  by  this,  I  never  will  take  you  again ; 
you  are  too  precious  to  be  risked." 

"How  can  you  say  so,  John?  I'm  a  poor  little 
creature,  —  no  use  to  anybody." 

Hereupon  John  told  her  that  her  only  use  in  life  was 
to  be  lovely  and  to  be  loved,  —  that  a  thing  of  beauty 
was  a  joy  forever,  &c.,  &c.  But  Lillie  was  too  much 
exhausted,  on  her  return,  to  appear  at  the  tea-table. 
She  took  to  her  bed  at  once  with  sick  headache,  to  the 
poignant  remorse  of  John.  "  You  see  how  it  is,  Gracie," 
he  said.  "  Poor  dear  little  thing,  she  is  willing  enough, 
but  there 's  nothing  of  her.  We  mustn't  allow  her  to 
exert  herself;  her  feelings  always  carry  her  away." 

The  next  Sunday,  John  sat  at  home  with  Lillie,  who 
found  herself  too  unwell  to  go  to  church,  and  was  in 
a  state  of  such  low  spirits  as  to  require  constant  sooth 
ing  to  keep  her  quiet. 

"  It  is  fortunate  that  I  have  you  and  Rose  to  trust 
the  school  with,"  said  John ;  "  you  see,  it 's  my  first  duty 
to  take  care  of'  Lillie." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

A    CRISIS. 

of  the  shrewdest   and  most   subtle  modern 
French  writers  has  given  his  views  of  woman 
kind  in  the  following  passage:  — 

"  There  are  few  women  who  have  not  found  them 
selves,  at  least  once  in  their  lives,  in  regard  to  some 
incontestable  fact,  faced  down  by  precise,  keen,  search 
ing  inquiry,  —  one  of  those  questions  pitilessly  put  by 
their  husbands,  the  very  idea  of  which  gives  a  slight 
chill,  and  the  first  word  of  which  enters  the  heart  like  a 
stroke  of  a  dagger.  Hence  comes  the  maxim,  Every 
woman  lies  —  obliging  lies  —  venial  lies  —  sublime  lies 
—  horrible  lies  —  but  always  the  obligation  of  lying. 

"  This  obligation  once  admitted,  must  it  not  be  a  neces 
sity  to  know  how  to  lie  well  ?  In  France,  the  women 
lie  admirably.  Our  customs  instruct  them  so  well  in 
imposture.  And  woman  is  so  naively  impertinent,  so 
pretty,  so  graceful,  so  true,  in  her  lying !  They  so  well 
understand  its  usefulness  in  social  life  for  avoiding 
those  violent  shocks  which  would  destroy  happiness,  — 
it  is  like  the  cotton  in  which  they  pack  their  jewelry. 

"  Lying  is  to  them  the  very  foundation  of  language, 


A   CBISIS.  93 

and  truth  is  only  the  exception ;  they  speak  it,  as  they 
are  virtuous,  from  caprice  or  for  a  purpose.  According 
to  their  character,  some  women  laugh  when  they  lie, 
and  some  cry;  some  become  grave,  and  others  get 
angry.  Having  begun  life  by  pretending  perfect  in 
sensibility  to  that  homage  which  flatters  them  most, 
they  often  finish  by  lying  even  to  themselves.  Who 
has  not  admired  their  apparent  superiority  and  calm,  at 
the  moment  when  they  were  trembling  for  the  mysteri 
ous  treasures  of  their  love  ?  Who  has  not  studied  their 
ease  and  facility,  their  presence  of  mind  in  the  midst 
of  the  most  critical  embarrassments  of  social  life  ? 
There  is  nothing  awkward  about  it;  their  deception 
flows  as  softly  as  the  snow  falls  from  heaven. 

"Yet  there  are  men  that  have  the  presumption  to 
expect  to  get  the  better  of  the  Parisian  woman !  —  of 
the  woman  who  possesses  thirty-seven  thousand  ways 
of  saying  « No,'  and  incommensurable  variations  in  say- 
ing 'Yes."' 

This  is  a  Frenchman's  view  of  life  in  a  country  where 
women  are  trained  more  systematically  for  the  mere 
purposes  of  attraction  than  in  any  other  country,  and 
where  the  pursuit  of  admiration  and  the  excitement  of 
winning  lovers  are  represented  by  its  authors  as  con 
stituting  the  main  staple  of  woman's  existence.  France, 
unfortunately,  is  becoming  the  great  society-teacher  of 
the  world.  What  with  French  theatres,  French  operas, 
French  novels,  and  the  universal  rush  of  American 
women  for  travel,  France  is  becoming  so  powerful  on 


94  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

American  fashionable  society,  that  the  things  said  of 
the  Parisian  woman  begin  in  some  cases  to  apply  to 
some  women  in  America. 

Lillie  was  as  precisely  the  woman  here  described  as 
if  she  had  been  born  and  bred  in  Paris.  She  had  all 
the  thirty-seven  thousand  ways  of  saying  "No,"  and 
the  incommensurable  variations  in  saying  "Yes,"  as  com 
pletely  as  the  best  French  teaching  could  have  given  it. 
She  possessed,  and  had  used,  all  that  graceful  facility, 
in  the  story  of  herself  that  she  had  told  John  in  the 
days  of  courtship.  Her  power  over  him  was  based  on 
a  dangerous  foundation  of  unreality.  Hence,  during 
the  first  few  weeks  of  her  wedded  life,  came  a  critical 
scene,  in  which  she  was  brought  in  collision  with  one 
of  those  "  pitiless  questions  "  our  author  speaks  of. 

Her  wedding-presents,  manifold  and  brilliant,  had 
remained  at  home,  in  the  charge  of  her  mother,  dur 
ing  the  wedding-journey.  One  bright  day,  a  few  weeks 
after  her  arrival  in  Springdale,  the  boxes  containing 
the  treasures  were  landed  there;  and  John,  with  all 
enthusiasm,  busied  himself  with  the  work  of  unpacking 
these  boxes,  and  drawing  forth  the  treasures. 

Now,  it  so  happened  that  Lillie's  maternal  grand 
father,  a  nice,  pious  old  gentleman,  had  taken  the 
occasion  to  make  her  the  edifying  and  suggestive 
present  of  a  large,  elegantly  bound  family  Bible. 

The  binding  was  unexceptionable ;  and  Lillie  assigned 
it  a  proper  place  of  honor  among  her  wedding-gear. 
Alas!  she  had  not  looked  into  it,  nor  seen  what 
dangers  to  her  power  were  lodged  between  its  leaves. 


A  CRISIS. 


95 


But  John,  who  was  curious  in  the  matter  of  books, 
sat  quietly  down  in  a  corner  to  examine  it ;  and  on  the 
middle  page,  under  the  head  "  Family  Record,"  he 
found,  in  a  large,  bold  hand,  the  date  of  the  birth  of 
"  Lillie  Ellis  "  in  figures  of  the  most  uncompromising 


A 


"  He  found  the  date  of  the  birth  of  '  Lillie  Ellis.1  " 

plainness  ;  and  thence,  with  one  flash  of  his  well-trained 
arithmetical  sense,  came  the  perception  that,  instead  of 
being  twenty  years  old,  she  was  in  fact  twenty-seven, 
—  and  that  of  course  she  had  lied  to  him. 

It  was  a  horrid  and  a  hard  word  for  an  American 
young  man  to  have  suggested  in  relation  to  his  wife, 
If  we  may  believe  the  French  romancer,  a  Frenchman 
would  simply  have  smiled  in  amusement  on  detecting 


96  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

this  petty  feminine  ruse  of  his  beloved.  But  American 
men  are  in  the  habit  of  expecting  the  truth  from  re 
spectable  women  as  a  matter  of  course ;  and  the  want 
of  it  in  the  smallest  degree  strikes  them  as  shocking. 
Only  an  Englishman  or  an  American  can  understand 
the  dreadful  pain  of  that  discovery  to  John. 

The  Anglo-Saxon  race  have,  so  to  speak,  a  worship 
of  truth ;  and  they  hate  and  abhor  lying  with  an  energy 
which  leaves  no  power  of  tolerance. 

The  Celtic  races  have  a  certain  sympathy  with 
deception.  They  have  a  certain  appreciation  of  the 
value  of  lying  as  a  fine  art,  which  has  never  been  more 
skilfully  shown  than  in  the  passage  from  De  Balzac  we 
have  quoted.  The  woman  who  is  described  by  him  as 
lying  so  sweetly  and  skilfully  is  represented  as  one  of 
those  women  "  qui  ont  je  ne  sais  quoi  de  saint  et  de 
sacre,  qui  inspirent  tant  de  respect  que  1' amour,"  —  "a 
woman  who  has  an  indescribable  something  of  holiness 
and  purity  which  inspires  respect  as  well  as  love."  It 
was  no  detraction  from  the  character  of  Jesus,  accord 
ing  to  the  estimate  of  Renan,  to  represent  him  as 
consenting  to  a  benevolent  fraud,  and  seeming  to  work 
miracles  when  he  did  not  work  them,  by  way  of  in 
creasing  his  good  influence  over  the  multitude. 

But  John  was  the  offspring  of  a  generation  of  men 
for  hundreds  of  years,  who  would  any  of  them  have 
gone  to  the  stake  rather  than  have  told  the  smallest 
untruth;  and  for  him  who  had  been  watched  and 
guarded  and  catechised  against  this  sin  from  his  cradle, 
till  he  was  as  true  and  pure  as  a  crystal  rock,  to  have 


A   CRISIS.  97 

his  faith  shattered  in  the  woman  he  loved,  was  a  ter 
rible  thing. 

As  he  read  the  fatal  figures,  a  mist  swam  before 
his  eyes,  —  a  sort  of  faintness  came  over  him.  It 
seemed  for  a  moment  as  if  his  very  life  was  sinking 
down  through  his  boots  into  the  carpet.  He  threw 
down  the  book  hastily,  and,  turning,  stepped  through 
an  open  window  into  the  garden,  and  walked  quickly 
off. 

"Where  in  the  world  is  John  going?"  said  Lillie, 
running  to  the  door,  and  calling  after  him  in  impera 
tive  tones. 

"John,  John,  come  back.  I  haven't  done  with  you 
yet ; "  but  John  never  turned  his  head. 

"How  very  odd!  what  in  the  world  is  the  matter 
with  him  ? "  she  said  to  herself. 

John  was  gone  all  the  afternoon.  He  took  a  long, 
long  walk,  all  by  himself  and  thought  the  matter  over. 
He  remembered  that  fresh,  childlike,  almost  infantine 
face,  that  looked  up  into  his  with  such  a  bewitching  air 
of  frankness  and  candor,  as  she  professed  to  be  telling 
all  about  herself  and  her  history;  and  now  which  or 
what  of  it  was  true  ?  It  seemed  as  if  he  loathed  her ; 
and  yet  he  couldn't  help  loving  her,  while  he  despised 
himself  for  doing  it. 

When  he  came  home  to  supper,  he  was  silent  and 
morose.  Lillie  came  running  to  meet  him ;  but  he 
threw  her  off,  saying  he  was  tired.  She  was  frightened ; 
she  had  never  seen  him  look  like  that. 

"  John,  what  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  "  said  Grace  at 

7 


98  PINK  AND  WHITE   TYRANNY. 

the  tea-table.  "You  are  upsetting  every  thing,  and 
don't  drink  your  tea." 

"  Nothing  —  only  —  I  have  some  troublesome  business 
to  settle,"  he  said,  getting  up  to  go  out  again.  "  You 
needn't  wait  for  me ;  I  shall  be  out  late." 

"What  can  be  the  matter?" 

Lillie,  indeed,  had  not  the  remotest  idea.  Yet  she 
remembered  his  jumping  up  suddenly,  and  throwing 
down  the  Bible ;  and  mechanically  she  went  to  it,  and 
opened  it.  She  turned  it  over;  and  the  record  met 
her  eye. 

"  Provoking !  "  she  said.  "  Stupid  old  creature !  must 
needs  go  and  put  that  out  in  full."  Lillie  took  a  paper- 
folder,  and  cut  the  leaf  out  quite  neatly ;  then  folded 
and  burned  it. 

She  knew  now  what  was  the  matter.  John  was 
angry  at  her ;  but  she  couldn't  help  wondering  that  he 
should  be  so  angry.  If  he  had  laughed  at  her,  teased 
her,  taxed  her  with  the  trick,  she  would  have  under 
stood  what  to  do.  But  this  terrible  gloom,  this  awful 
commotion  of  the  elements,  frightened  her. 

She  went  to  her  room,  saying  that  she  had  a  head 
ache,  and  would  go  to  bed.  But  she  did  not.  She 
took  her  French  novel,  and  read  till  she  heard  him 
coming ;  and  then  she  threw  down  her  book,  and  began 
to  cry.  He  came  into  the  room,  and  saw  her  leaning 
like  a  little  white  snow-wreath  over  the  table,  sobbing 
as  if  her  heart  would  break.  To  do  her  justice, 
Lillie's  sobs  were  not  affected.  She  was  lonesome  and 
thoroughly  frightened ;  and,  when  she  heard  him  com- 


A   CRISIS.  99 

ing,  her  nerves  gave  out.  John's  heart  yearned  towards 
her.  His  short-lived  anger  had  burned  out;  and  he 
was  perfectly  longing  for  a  reconciliation.  He  felt  as  if 
he  must  have  her  to  love,  no  matter  what  she  was.  He 
came  up  to  her,  and  stroked  her  hair.  "  O  Lillie !  "  he 
said,  "  why  couldn't  you  have  told  me  the  truth  ? 
What  made  you  deceive  me?" 

"I  was  afraid  you  wouldn't  like  me  if  I  did,"  said 
Lillie,  in  her  sobs. 

"  O  Lillie !  I  should  have  liked  you,  no  matter 
how  old  you  were,  —  only  you  should  have  told  me 
the  truth" 

"  I  know  it  —  I  know  it  —  oh,  it  was  wrong  of  me ! " 
and  Lillie  sobbed,  and  seemed  in  danger  of  falling  into 
convulsions ;  and  John's  heart  gave  out.  He  gathered 
her  in  his  arms.  "  I  can't  help  loving  you ;  and  I  can't 
live  without  you,"  he  said,  "  be  you  what  you  may ! " 

Lillie's  little  heart  beat  with  triumph  under  all  her 
sobs :  she  had  got  him,  and  should  hold  him  yet. 

"There  can  be  no  confidence  between  husband  and 
wife,  Lillie,"  said  John,  gravely,  "  unless  we  are  per 
fectly  true  with  each  other.  Promise  me,  dear,  that 
you  will  never  deceive  me  again." 

Lillie  promised  with  ready  fervor.  "  O  John ! "  she 
said,  "  I  never  should  have  done  so  wrong  if  I  had  only 
come  under  your  influence  earlier.  The  fact  is,  I  have 
been  under  the  worst  influences  all  my  life.  I  never 
had  anybody  like  you  to  guide  me." 

John  may  of  course  be  excused  for  feeling  that 
his  flattering  little  penitent  was  more  to  him  than 


100  PINK  AND   WHITE    TYRANNY. 

ever ;  and  as  to  Lillie,  she  gave  a  sigh  of  relief.  That 
was  over,  "anyway;"  and  she  had  him  not  only  safe, 
but  more  completely  hers  than  before. 

A  generous  man  is  entirely  unnerved  by  a  frank 
confession.  If  Lillie  had  said  one  word  in  defence, 
if  she  had  raised  the  slightest  shadow  of  an  argument, 
John  would  have  roused  up  all  his  moral  principle 
to  oppose  her;  but  this  poor  little  white  water-sprite, 
dissolving  in  a  rain  of  penitent  tears,  quite  washed 
away  all  his  anger  and  all  his  heroism. 

The  next  morning,  Lillie,  all  fresh  in  a  ravishing 
toilet,  with  field-daisies  in  her  hair,  was  in  a  condition 
to  laugh  gently  at  John  for  his  emotion  of  yesterday. 
She  triumphed  softly,  not  too  obviously,  in  her  power. 
He  couldn't  do  without  her,  —  do  what  she  might, — 
that  was  plain. 

"Now,  John,"  she  said,  "don't  you  think  we  poor 
women  are  judged  rather  hardly?  Men,  you  know, 
tell  all  sorts  of  lies  to  carry  on  their  great  politics  and 
their  ambition,  and  nobody  thinks  it  so  dreadful  of 
them" 

"I  do  —  I  should,"  interposed  John. 

"Oh,  well!  you  —  you  are  an  exception.  It  is  not 
one  man  in  a  hundred  that  is  so  good  as  you  are. 
Now,  we  women  have  only  one  poor  little  ambition,  — 
to  be  pretty,  to  please  you  men;  and,  as  soon  as 
you  know  we  are  getting  old,  you  don't  like  us.  And 
can  you  think  it 's  so  very  shocking  if  we  don't  come 
square  up  to  the  dreadful  truth  about  our  age  ?  Youth 
and  beauty  is  all  there  is  to  us,  you  know." 


A    CRISIS.  101 

"O  Lillie!  don't  say  so,"  said  John,  who  felt  the 
necessity  of  being  instructive,  and  of  improving  the 
occasion  to  elevate  the  moral  tone  of  his  little  elf. 
"  Goodness  lasts,  my  ctetfr.-  when  beauty1  fades." 

"  Oh,  nonsense  !  Now,  John,  don't  talk  humbug. 
I'd  like  to  see  you  following  gbtf4ne>s'  when  beauty 
is  gone.  I  've  known  lots  of  plain  old  maids  that  were 
perfect  saints  and  angels;  and  yet  men  crowded  and 
jostled  by  them  to  get  the  pretty  sinners.  I  dare 
say  now,"  she  added,  with  a  bewitching  look  over 
her  shoulder  at  him,  "you'd  rather  have  me  than 
Miss  Almira  Carraway,  —  hadn't  you,  now  ?  " 

And  Lillie  put  her  white  arm  round  his  neck,  and 
her  downy  cheek  to  his,  and  said  archly,  "  Come,  now, 
confess." 

Then  John  told  her  that  she  was  a  bad,  naughty  girl  ; 
and  she  laughed  ;  and,  on  the  whole,  the  pair  were 
more  hilarious  and  loving  than  usual. 

But  yet,  when  John  was  away  at  his  office,  he 
thought  of  it  again,  and  found  there  was  still  a  sore 
spot  in  his  heart. 

She  had  cheated  him  once  ;  would  she  cheat  him 
again?  And  she  could  cheat  so  prettily,  so  serenely, 
and  with  such  a  candid  face,  it  was  a  dangerous  talent. 

No  :  she  wasn't  like  his  mother,  he  thought  with  a 
sigh.  The  "je  ne  sais  quoi  de  saint  et  de  sacre," 
which  had  so  captivated  his  imagination,  did  not  cover 
the  saintly  and  sacred  nature  ;  it  was  a  mere  outward 
purity  of  complexion  and  outline.  And  then  Grace,  — 
she  must  not  be  left  to  find  out  what  he  knew  about 


7     (       uyv-e 


102  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Lillie.  He  had  told  Grace  that  she  was  only  twenty,  — 
told  it  on  her  authority ;  and  now  must  he  become  an 
accomplice  ?  If  called  on  to  speak  of  his  wife's  age, 
must  he  accommodate  tfieArDtlx  to'  her  story,  or  must 
he  palter  and  evade?  Here  was  another  brick  laid  on 
the  wall  of  sep^trorrf ,  be'tweeii  fJis  sister  and  himself. 
It  was  rising  daily.  Here  was  another  subject  on  which 
he  could  never  speak  frankly  with  Grace ;  for  he  must 
defend  Lillie,  —  every  impulse  of  his  heart  rushed  to 
protect  her. 

But  it  is  a  terrible  truth,  and  one  that  it  will  not  hurt 
any  of  us  to  bear  in  mind,  that  our  judgments  of  our 
friends  are  involuntary. 

We  may  long  with  all  our  hearts  to  confide ;  we  may 
be  fascinated,  entangled,  and  wish  to  be  blinded ;  but 
blind  we  cannot  be.  The  friend  that  has  lied  to  us 
once,  we  may  long  to  believe ;  but  we  cannot.  Nay, 
more ;  it  is  the  worse  for  us,  if,  in  our  desire  to  hold  the 
dear  deceiver  in  our  hearts,  we  begin  to  chip  and  ham 
mer  on  the  great  foundations  of  right  and  honor,  and 
to  say  within  ourselves,  "After  all,  why  be  so  partic 
ular?"  Then,  when  we  have  searched  about  for  all  the 
reasons  and  apologies  and  extenuations  for  wrong-doing, 
are  we  sure  that  in  our  human  weakness  we  shall  not 
be  pulling  down  the  moral  barriers  in  ourselves?  The 
habit  of  excusing  evil,  and  finding  apologies,  and  wish 
ing  to  stand  with  one  who  stands  on  a  lower  moral 
plane,  is  not  a  wholesome  one  for  the  soul. 

As  fate  would  have  it,  the  very  next  day  after  this 
little  scene,  who  should  walk  into  the  parlor  where 


A   CRISIS.  103 

Lillie,  John,  and  Grace  were  sitting,  but  that  terror  of 
American  democracy,  the  census-taker.  Armed  with 
the  whole  power  of  the  republic,  this  official  steps  with 
elegant  ease  into  the  most  sacred  privacies  of  the  fam 
ily.  Flutterings  and  denials  are  in  vain.  Bridget  and 
Katy  and  Anne,  no  less  than  Seraphina  and  Isabella, 
must  give  up  the  critical  secrets  of  their  lives. 

John  took  the  paper  into  the  kitchen.  Honest  old 
Bridget  gave  in  her  age  with  effrontery  as  "  twinty- 
five."  Anne  giggled  and  flounced,  and  declared  on  her 
word  she  didn't  know,  — they  could  put  it  down  as  they 
liked.  "  But,  Anne,  you  must  tell,  or  you  may  be  sent 
to  jail,  you  know." 

Anne  giggled  still  harder,  and  tossed  her  head: 
"Then  it's  to  jail  I'll  have  to  go  ;  for  I  don't  know." 

"  Dear  me,"  said  Lillie,  with  an  air  of  edifying 
candor,  "  what  a  fuss  they  make !  Set  down  my  age 
4  twenty-seven,'  John,"  she  added. 

Grace  started,  and  looked  at  John ;  he  met  her  eye, 
and  blushed  to  the  roots  of  his  hair. 

"Why,  what's  the  matter?"  said  Lillie,  "are  you 
embarrassed  at  telling  your  age  ?  " 

"  Oh,  nothing ! "  said  John,  writing  down  the  num 
bers  hastily ;  and  then,  finding  a  sudden  occasion  to 
give  directions  in  the  garden,  he  darted  out.  "  It 's  so 
silly  to  be  ashamed  of  our  age!"  said  Lillie,  as  the 
census-taker  withdrew. 

"  Of  course,"  said  Grace ;  and  she  had  the  humanity 
never  to  allude  to  the  subject  with  her  brother. 


CHAPTER   X. 

CHANGES. 


SCENE.  — A  chamber  at  the  Seymour  House.  Lillie  discovered  weep 
ing.  John  rushing  in  with  empressement. 

"  T    ILLIE,  you  shall  tell  me  what  ails  you." 
•*-'    "  Nothing  ails  me,  John." 

"  Yes,  there  does ;  you  were  crying  when  I  came  in." 

"  Oh,  well,  that 's  nothing ! " 

"  Oh,  but  it  is  a  great  deal !  What  is  the  matter  ? 
I  can  see  that  you  are  not  happy." 

"Oh,  pshaw,  John  !  I  am  as  happy  as  I  ought  to  be, 
I  dare  say ;  there  isn't  much  the  matter  with  me,  only 
a  little  blue,  and  I  don't  feel  quite'  strong." 

"  You  don't  feel  strong !     I  Ve  noticed  it,  Lillie." 

"  Well,  you  see,  John,  the  fact  is,  that  I  never  have 
got  through  this  month  without  going  to  the  sea-side. 
Mamma  always  took  me.  The  doctors  told  her  that 
my  constitution  was  such  that  I  couldn't  get  along 
without  it ;  but  I  dare  say  I  shall  do  well  enough  in 
time,  you  know." 

"But,  Lillie,"  said  John,  "if  you  do  need  sea-air, 
you  must  go.  I  can't  leave  my  business ;  that's  the 
trouble." 


CHANGES.  105 

/ 
"  Oh,  no,  John !  don't  think  of  it.     I  ought  to  make 

an  effort  to  get  along.  You  see,  it 's  very  foolish  in  me, 
but  places  affect  my  spirits  so.  It 's  perfectly  absurd 
how  I  am  affected." 

"Well,  Lillie,  I  hope  this  place  doesn't  affect  you 
unpleasantly,"  said  John. 

"  It 's  a  nice,  darling  place,  John,  and  it 's  very  silly  in 
me  ;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  this  house  somehow  has  a  de 
pressing  effect  on  my  spirits.  You  know  it 's  not  like 
the  houses  I've  been  used  to.  It  has  a  sort  of  old  look ; 
and  I  can't  help  feeling  that  it  puts  me  in  mind  of  those 
who  are  dead  and  gone ;  and  then  I  think  I  shall  be  dead 
and  gone  too,  some  day,  and  it  makes  me  cry  so.  Isn't 
it  silly  of  me,  John  ?  " 

"  Poor  little  pussy  ! "  said  John. 

"You  see,  John,  our  rooms  are  lovely;  but  they 
are  n't  modern  and  cheerful,  like  those  I  Ve  been  accus 
tomed  to.  They  make  me  feel  pensive  and  sad  all  the 
time ;  but  I  'm  trying  to  get  over  it." 

"  Why,  Lillie  !  "  said  John,  "  would  you  like  the  rooms 
refurnished  ?  It  can  easily  be  done  if  you  wish  it." 

"  Oh,  no,  no,  dear !  You  are  too  good ;  and  I  'm  sure 
the  rooms  are  lovely,  and  it  would  hurt  Gracie's  feel 
ings  to  change  them.  No :  I  must  try  and  get  over  it. 
I  know  just  how  silly  it  is,  and  I  shall  try  to  overcome 
it.  If  I  had  only  more  strength,  I  believe  I  could." 

"  Well,  darling,  you  must  go  to  the  sea-side.  I  shall 
have  you  sent  right  off  to  Newport.  Gracie  can  go 
with  you." 

"  Oh,  no,  John !  not  for  the  world.    Gracie  must  stay, 


106  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

and  keep  house  for  you.  She's  such  a  help  to  you, 
that  it  would  be  a  shame  to  take  her  away.  But  I 
think  mamma  would  go  with  me,  —  if  you  could  take  me 
there,  and  engage  my  rooms  and  all  that,  why,  mamma 
could  stay  with  me,  you  know.  To  be  sure,  it  would 
be  a  trial  not  to  have  you  there ;  but  then  if  I  could 
get  up  my  strength,  you  know,"  — 

"  Exactly,  certainly ;  and,  Lillie,  how  would  you  like 
the  parlors  arranged  if  you  had  your  own  way  ?  " 

"  Oh,  John !  don't  think  of  it." 

"But  I  just  want  to  know  for  curiosity.  Now,  how 
would  you  have  them  if  you  could  ?  " 

"Well,  then,  John,  don't  you  think  it  would  be 
lovely  to  have  them  frescoed?  Did  you  ever  see  the 
Folingsbees'  rooms  in  New  York?  They  were  so 
lovely !  —  one  was  all  in  blue,  and  the  other  in  crimson, 
opening  into  each  other;  with  carved  furniture,  and 
those  marquetrie  tables,  and  all  sorts  of  little  French 
things.  They  had  such  a  gay  and  cheerful  look." 

"Now,  Lillie,  if  you  want  our  rooms  like  that,  you 
shall  have  them." 

"O  John,  you  are  too  good!  I  couldn't  ask  such 
a  sacrifice." 

"  Oh,  pshaw !  it  isn't  a  sacrifice.  I  don't  doubt  I 
shall  like  them  better  myself.  Your  taste  is  perfect, 
Lillie ;  and,  now  I  think  of  it,  I  wonder  that  I  thought 
of  bringing  you  here  without  consulting  you  in  every 
particular.  A  woman  ought  to  be  queen  in  her  own' 
house,  I  am  sure." 

"But,  Gracie!      Now,  John,  I   know  she  hasfasso- 


CHANGES.  107 

ciations^with  all  the  things  in  this  house,  and  it  would 
be  cruel  to  her,"  said  Lillie,  with  a  sigh. 

"  Pshaw !  Gracie  is  a  good,  sensible  girl,  and  ready 
to  make  any  rational  change.  I  suppose  we  have  been 
living  rather  behind  the  times,  and  are  somewhat  rusty, 
that's  a  fact;  but  Gracie  will  enjoy  new  things  as 
much  as  anybody,  I  dare  say." 

"  Well,  John,  since  you  are  set  on  it,  there 's  Charlie 
Ferrola,  one  of  my  particular  friends ;  he  's  an  archi 
tect,  and  does  all  about  arranging  rooms  and  houses 
and  furniture.  He  did  the  Folingsbees',  and  the  Hor- 
tons',  and  the  Jeromes',  and  no  end  of  real  nobby 
people's  houses ;  and  made  them  perfectly  lovely.  Peo 
ple  say  that  one  wouldn't  know  that  they  weren't  in 
Paris,  in  houses  that  he  does." 

Now,  our  John  was  by  nature  a  good  solid  chip  of 
the  old  Anglo-Saxon  block ;  and,  if  there  was  any  thing 
that  he  had  no  special  affinity  for,  it  was  for  French 
things.  He  had  small  opinion  of  French  morals,  and 
French  ways  in  general;  but  then  at  this  moment  he 
saw  his  Lillie,  whom,  but  half  an  hour  before,  he  found 
all  pale  and  tear-drenched,  now  radiant  and  joyous, 
sleek  as  fa  humming-bird,  with  the  light  in  her  eyes,  and 
the  rattle  on  the  tip  of  her  tongue ;  and  he  felt  so 
delighted  to  see  her  bright  and  gay  and  joyous,  that  he 
would  have  turned  his  house  into  the  Jardin  Mabille,  if 
that  were  possible. 

Lillie  had  the  prettiest  little  caressing  tricks  and 
graces  imaginable;  and  she  perched  herself  on  his 
knee,  and  laughed  and  chatted  so  gayly,  and  pulled  his 


108 


PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 


whiskers  so  saucily,  and  then,  springing  up,  began  array 
ing  herself  in  such  an  astonishing  daintiness  of  device, 
and  fluttering  before  him  with  such  a  variety  of  well- 
assorted  plumage,  that  John  was  quite  taken  off  his  feet. 


"  She  perched  herself  on  his  knee." 

He  did  not  care  so  much  whether  what  she  willed  to 
do  were,  "  Wisest,  virtuousest,  discreetest,  best,"  as  feel 
that  what  she  wished  to  do  must  be  done  at  any  rate. 

"  Why,  darling ! "  he  said  in  his  rapture ;  "  why 
didn't  you  tell  me  all  this  before?  Here  you  have 
been  growing  sad  and  blue,  and  losing  your  vivacity 
and  spirits,  and  never  told  me  why!" 


CHANGES.  109 

"  I  thought  it  was  my  duty,  John,  to  try  to  bear  it," 
said  Lillie,  with-  the  sweet  look  of  a  virgin  saint.  "  I 
thought  perhaps  I  should  get  used  to  things  in  time; 
and  I  think  it  is  a  wife's  duty  to  accommodate  herself 
to  her  husband's  circumstances." 

"No,  it's  a  husband's  duty  to  accommodate  him 
self  to  his  wife's  wishes,"  said  John.  "What's  that 
fellow's  address?  I'll  write  to  him  about  doing  our 
house,  forthwith." 

"  But,  John,  do  pray  tell  Gracie  that  it 's  your  wish. 
I  don't  want  her  to  think  that  it's  I  that  am  doing 
this.  Now,  pray  do  think  whether  you  really  want  it 
yourself.  You  see  it  must  be  so  natural  for  you  to  like 
the  old  things!  They  must  have  associations,  and 
I  wouldn't  for  the  world,  now,  be  the  one  to  change 
them;  and,  after  all,  how  silly  it  was  of  me  to  feel 
blue!" 

"Don't  say  any  more,  Lillie.  Let  me  see,  —  next 
week,"  he  said,  taking  out  his  pocket-book,  and  looking 
over  his  memoranda,  —  "next  week  I'll  take  you  down 
to  Newport ;  and  you  write  to-day  to  your  mother  to 
meet  you  there,  and  be  your  guest.  I'll  write  and 
engage  the  rooms  at  once." 

"  I  don't  know  what  I  shall  do  without  you,  John." 

"  Oh,  well,  I  couldn't  stay  possibly !  But  I  may  run 
down  now  and  then,  for  a  night,  you  know." 

"Well,  we  must  make  that  do,"  said  Lillie,  with 
a'  pensive  sigh. 

Thus  two  very  important  moves  on  Miss  Lillie's 
checker-board  of  life  were  skilfully  made.  The  house 


110  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

was  to  be  refitted,  and  the  Newport  precedent  estab 
lished. 

Now,  dear  friends,  don't  think  Lillie  a  pirate,  or  a 
conspirator,  or  a  wolf-in-sheep's-clothing,  or  any  thing 
else  but  what  she  was,  —  a  pretty  little,  selfish  woman ; 
undeveloped  in  her  conscience  and  affections,  and  strong 
in  her  instincts  and  perceptions ;  in  a  blind  way  using 
what  means  were  most  in  her  line  to  carry  her  purposes. 
Lillie  had  always  found  her  prettiness,  her  littleness, 
her  helplessness,  and  her  tears  so  very  useful  in  carry- 
,  ing  her  points  in  life  that  she  resorted  to  them  as 
her  lawful  stock  in  trade.  Neither  were  her  blues 
entirely  shamming.  There  comes  a  time  after  mar 
riage,  when  a  husband,  if  he  be  any  thing  of  a  man, 
has  something  else  to  do  than  make  direct  love  to 
his  wife.  He  cannot  be  on  duty  at  all  hours  to  fan  her, 
and  shawl  her,  and  admire  her.  His  love  must  express 
itself  through  other  channels.  He  must  be  a  full  man 
for  her  sake ;  and,  as  a  man,  must  go  forth  to  a  whole 
world  of  interests  that  takes  him  from  her.  Now 
what  in  this  case  shall  a  woman  do,  whose  only  life  lies 
in  petting  and  adoration  and  display? 

Springdale  had  no  beau  monde,  no  fashionable  circle, 
no  Bois  de  Boulogne,  and  no  beaux,  to  make  amends 
for  a  husband's  engrossments.  Grace  was  sisterly  and 
kind;  but  what  on  earth  had  they  in  common  to 
talk  about  ?  Lillie's  wardrobe  was  in  all  the  freshness 
of  bridal  exuberance,  and  there  was  nothing  more  to  be 
got,  and  so,  for  the  moment,  no  stimulus  in  this  line. 
But  then  where  to  wear  all  these  fine  French  dresses  ? 


CHANGES.  HI 

Lillie  had  been  called  on,  and  invited  once  to  little 
social  evening  parties,  through  the  whole  round  of 
old,  respectable  families  that  lived  under  the  elm-arches 
of  Springdale;  and  she  had  found  it  rather  stupid. 
There  was  not  a  man  to  make  an  admirer  of,  except  the 
young  minister,  who,  after  the  first  afternoon  of  seeing 
her,  returned  to  his  devotion  to  Rose  Ferguson. 

You  know,  ladies,  ^Esop  has  a  pretty  little  fable  as 
follows :  A  young  man  fell  desperately  in  love  with 
a  cat,  and  prayed  to  Jupiter  to  change  her  to  a  woman 
for  his  sake.  Jupiter  was  so  obliging  as  to  grant  his 
prayer;  and,  behold,  a  soft,  satin-skinned,  purring, 
graceful  woman  was  given  into  his  arms. 

But  the  legend  goes  on  to  say  that,  while  he  was 
delighting  in  her  charms,  she  heard  the  sound  of  mice 
behind  the  wainscot,  and  left  him  forthwith  to  rush 
after  her  congenial  prey. 

Lillie  had  heard  afar  the  sound  of  mice  at  Newport, 
and  she  longed  to  be  after  them  once  more.  Had 
she  not  a  prestige  now  as  a  rich  young  married  lady? 
Had  she  not  jewels  and  gems  to  show?  Had  she 
not  any  number  of  mouse-traps,  in  the  way  of  ravishing 
toilets?  She  thought  it  all  over,  till  she  was  sick 
with  longing,  and  was  sure  that  nothing  but  the  sea-air 
could  do  her  any  good;  and  so  she  fell  to  crying,  and 
kissing  her  faithful  John,  till  she  gained  her  end,  like  a 
veritable  little  cat  as  she  was. 


CHAPTER    XL 

NEWPORT;   OR,  THE  PARADISE   OF  NOTHING 
TO  DO. 

"OEHOLD,  now,  our  Lillie  at  the  height  of  her 
-*-^  heart's  desire,  installed  in  fashionable  apartments 
at  Newport,  under  the  placid  chaperonship  of  dear 
mamma,  who  never  saw  the  least  harm  in  any  earthly 
thing  her  Lillie  chose  to  do. 

All  the  dash  and  flash  and  furbelow  of  upper-tendom 
were  there ;  and  Lillie  now  felt  the  full  power  and  glory 
of  being  a  rich,  pretty,  young  married  woman,  with 
oceans  of  money  to  spend,  and  nothing  on  earth  to  do 
but  follow  the  fancies  of  the  passing  hour. 

This  was  Lillie's  highest  ideal  of  happiness;  and 
didn't  she  enjoy  it? 

WasnH  it  something  to  flame  forth  in  wondrous 
toilets  in  the  eyes  of  Belle  Trevors  and  Margy  Sillo- 
way  and  Lottie  Cavers,  who  were  not  married;  and 
before  the  Simpkinses  and  the  Tomkinses  and  the 
Jenkinses,  who,  last  year,  had  said  hateful  things  about 
her,  and  intimated  that  she  had  gone  off  in  her  looks, 
and  was  on  the  way  to  be  an  old  maid  ? 

And  wasn't  it  a  triumph  when  all  her  old  beaux 
came  flocking  round  her,  and  her  parlors  became  a 


NEWPORT. 

daily  resort  and  lounging-place  for  all  the  idle  swains, 
both  of  her  former  acquaintance  and  of  the  new 
comers,  who^  drifted  with  the  tide  of  fashion  ?  Never 
had  she  been  so  much  the  rage;  never  had  she  been 
declared  so  "  stunning."  The  effect  of  all  this  good 
fortune  on  her  health  was  immediate.  We  all  know 
how  the  spirits  affect  the  bodily  welfare;  and  hence, 
my  dear  gentlemen,  we  desire  it  to  be  solemnly  im 
pressed  on  you,  that  there  is  nothing  so  good  for  a 
woman's  health  as  to  give  her  her  own  way. 

Lillie  now,  from  this  simple  cause,  received  enor 
mous  accessions  of  vigor.  While  at  home  with  plain, 
sober  John,  trying  to  walk  in  the  quiet  paths  of  domes 
ticity,  how  did  her  spirits  droop !  If  you  only  could  have 
had  a  vision  of  her  brain  and  spinal  system,  you  would 
have  seen  how  there  was  no  nervous  fluid  there,  and 
how  all  the  fine  little  cords  and  fibres  that  string  the 
muscles  were  wilting  like 'flowers  out  of  water;  but 
now  she  could  bathe  the  longest  and  the  strongest  of  any 
one,  could  ride  on  the  beach  half  the  day,  and  dance 
the  German  into  the  small  hours  of  the  night,  with 
a  degree  of  vigor  which  showed  conclusively  what  a 
fine  thing  for  her  the  Newport  air  was.  Her  dancing- 
list  was  always  over-crowded  with  applicants;  bou 
quets  were  showered  on  her;  and  the  most  superb 
"turn-outs,"  with  their  masters  for  charioteers,  were 
at  her  daily  disposal. 

All  this  made  talk.  The  world  doesn't  forgive  suc 
cess  ;  and  the  ancients  informed  us  that  even  the  gods 
were  envious  of  happy  people.  It  is  astonishing  to  see 

8 


114  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

the  quantity  of  very  proper  and  rational  moral  reflec 
tion  that  is  excited  in  the  breast  of  society,  by  any 
sort  of  success  in  life.  How  it  shows  them  the  vanity 
of  earthly  enjoyments,  the  impropriety  of  setting  one's 
heart  on  it !  How  does  a  successful  married  flirt 
impress  all  her  friends  with  the  gross  impropriety  of 
having  one's  head  set  on  gentlemen's  attentions ! 

"  I  must  say,"  said  Belle  Trevors,  "  that  dear  Lillie 
does  astonish  me.  Now,  I  shouldn't  want  to  have  that 
dissipated  Danforth  lounging  in  my  rooms  every  day, 
as  he  does  in  Lillie's :  and  then  taking  her  out  driving 
day  after  day ;  for  my  part,  I  don't  think  it 's  respect 
able." 

"  Why  don't  you  speak  to  her  ?  "  said  Lottie  Cavers. 

"  Oh,  my  dear !  she  wouldn't  mind  me.  Lillie  always 
was  the  most  imprudent  creature ;  and,  if  she  goes  on 
so,  she'll  certainly  get  awfully  talked  about.  That 
Danforth  is  a  horrid  creature ;  I  know  all  about  him." 

As  Miss  Belle  had  herself  been  driving  with  the 
"  horrid  creature  "  only  the  week  before  Lillie  came,  it 
must  be  confessed  that  her  opportunities  for  observa 
tion  were  of  an  authentic  kind. 

Lillie,  as  queen  in  her  own  parlor,  was  all  grace  and 
indulgence.  Hers  was  now  to  be  the  sisterly  r6le, 
or,  as  she  laughingly  styled  it,  the  maternal.  With  a 
ravishing  morning-dress,  and  with  a  killing  little  cap 
of  about  three  inches  in  extent  on  her  head,  she 
enacted  the  young  matron,  and  gave  full  permission  to, 
Tom,  Dick,  and  Harry  to  make  themselves  at  home  in 
her  room,  and  smoke  their  cigars  there  in  peace.  She 


NEWPORT. 


115 


"  adored  the  smell ; "  in  fact,  she  accepted  the  present 
of  a  fancy  box  of  cigarettes  from  Danforth  with  gra- 
ciousness,  and  would  sometimes  smoke  one  purely  for 
good  company.  She  also  encouraged  her  followers  to 


"  And  would  sometimes  smoke  one  purely  for  good  company." 

unveil  the  tender  secrets  of  their  souls  confidentially 
to  her,  and  offered  gracious  mediations  on  their  behalf 
with  any  of  the  flitting  Newport  fair  ones.  When  they, 
as  in  duty  bound,  said  that  they  saw  nobody  whom 
they  cared  about  now  she  was  married,  that  she  was 
the  only  woman  on  earth  for  them,  —  she  rapped 
their  knuckles  briskly  with  her  fan,  and  bid  them 
mind  their  manners.  All  this  mode  of  proceeding 
gave  her  an  immense  success. 


116  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

But,  as  we  said  before,  all  this  was  talked  about ;  and 
ladies  in  their  letters,  chronicling  the  events  of  the 
passing  hour,  sent  the  tidings  up  and  down  the  coun 
try;  and  so  Miss  Letitia  Ferguson  got  a  letter  from 
Mrs.  Wilcox  with  full  pictures  and  comments ;  and  she 
brought  the  same  to  Grace  Seymour. 

"  I  dare  say,"  said  Letitia,  "  these  things  have  been 
exaggerated ;  they  always  are :  still  it  does  seem  desir 
able  that  your  brother  should  go  there,  and  be  with 
her." 

"  He  can't  go  and  be  with  her,"  said  Grace,  "  without 
neglecting  his  business,  already  too  much  neglected. 
Then  the  house  is  all  in  confusion  under  the  hands  of 
painters;  and  there  is  that  young  artist  up  there, — 
a  very  elegant  gentleman,  —  giving  orders  to  right 
and  left,  every  one  of  which  involves  further  confusion 
and  deeper  expense ;  for  my  part,  I  see  no  end  to  it. 
Poor  John  has  got  '  the  Old  Man  of  the  Sea '  on  his 
back  in  the  shape  of  this  woman ;  and  I  expect  she  '11 
be  the  ruin  of  him  yet.  I  can't  want  to  break  up  his 
illusion  about  her ;  because,  what  good  will  it  do  ?  He 
has  married  her,  and  must  live  with  her;  and,  for 
Heaven's  sake,  let  the  illusion  last  while  it  can !  I  'm 
going  to  draw  oif,  and  leave  them  to  each  other; 
there's  no  other  way." 

"You  are,  Grade?" 

"  Yes ;  you  see  John  came  to  me,  all  stammering  and 
embarrassment,  about  this  making  over  of  the  old 
place;  but  I  put  him  at  ease  at  once.  'The  most 
natural  thing  in  the  world,  John,'  said  I.  '  Of  course 


NEWPORT. 


Lillie  has  her  taste;  and  it's  her  right  to  have  the 
house  arranged  to  suit  it.'  And  then  I  proposed  to 
take  all  the  old  family  things,  and  furnish  the  house 
that  I  own  on  Elm  Street,  and  live  there,  and  let  John 
and  Lillie  keep  house  by  themselves.  You  see  there  is 
no  helping  the  thing.  Married  people  must  be  left 
to  themselves;  nobody  can  help  them.  They  must 
make  their  own  discoveries,  fight  their  own  battles, 
sink  or  swim,  together;  and  I  have  determined  that 
not  by  the  winking  of  an  eye  will  I  interfere  between 
them." 

"  Well,  but  do  you  think  John  wants  you  to  go  ?  " 
"  He  feels  badly  about  it  ;  and  yet  I  have  convinced 
him   that   it's  best.      Poor  fellow!  all  these  changes 
are  not  a  bit  to  his  taste.     He  liked  the  old  place  as 

J 

it  was,  and  the  old  ways;  but  John  is  so  unselfish.  He 
has  got  it  in  his  head  that  Lillie  is  very  sensitive 
and  peculiar,  and  that  her  spirits  require  all  these 
changes,  as  well  as  Newport  air." 

"  Well,"  said  Letitia,  "  if  a  man  begins  to  say  A  in 
that  line,  he  must  say  B." 

"Of  course,"  said  Grace;  "and  also  C  and  D,  and 
so  on,  down  to  X,  Y,  Z.  A  woman,  armed  with  sick- 
headaches,  nervousness,  debility,  presentiments,  fears, 
horrors,  and  all  sorts  of  imaginary  and  real  diseases, 
has  an  eternal  armory  of  weapons  of  subjugation. 
What  can  a  man  do?  Can  he  tell  her  that  she  is  lying 
and  shamming  ?  Half  the  time  she  isn't  ;  she  can  act 
ually  work  herself  into  about  any  physical  state  she 
chooses.  The  fortnight  before  Lillie  went  to  Newport, 


118  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

she  really  looked  pale,  and  ate  next  to  nothing ;  and 
she  managed  admirably  to  seem  to  be  trying  to  keep 
up,  and  not  to  complain,  —  yet  you  see  how  she  can  go 
on  at  Newport." 

"  It  seems  a  pity  John  couldn't  understand  her." 

"  My  dear,  I  wouldn't  have  him  for  the  world.  When 
ever  he  does,  he  will  despise  her ;  and  then  he  will  be 
wretched.  For  John  is  no  hypocrite,  any  more  than  I 
am.  No,  I  earnestly  pray  that  his  soap-bubble  may  not 
break." 

"Well,  then,"  said  Letitia,  "at  least,  he  might  go 
down  to  Newport  for  a  day  or  two ;  and  his  presence 
there  might  set  some  things  right:  it  might  at  least 
check  reports.  You  might  just  suggest  to  him  that 
unfriendly  things  were  being  said." 

"  Well,  I  '11  see  what  I  can  do,"  said  Grace. 

So,  by  a  little  feminine  tact  in  suggestion,  Grace  de 
spatched  her  brother  to  spend  a  day  or  two  in  Newport. 

His  coming  and  presence  interrupted  the  lounging 
hours  in  Lillie's  room ;  the  introduction  to  "  my  hus 
band  "  shortened  the  interviews.  John  was  courteous 
and  affable;  but  he  neither  smoked  nor  drank,  and 
there  was  a  mutual  repulsion  between  him  and  many 
of  Lillie's  habitues. 

"  I  say,  Dan,"  said  Bill  Sanders  to  Danforth,  as  they 
were  smoking  on  one  end  of  the  veranda,  "you  are 
driven  out  of  your  lodgings  since  Seymour  came." 

"  No  more  than  the  rest  of  you,"  said  Danforth. 

"  I  don't  know  about  that,  Dan.     I  think  you  might 


NEWPORT.  H9 

have  been  taken  for  master  of  those  premises.  Look 
here  now,  Dan,  why  didn't  you  take  little  Lill  your 
self?  Everybody  thought  you  were  going  to  last 
year." 

"  Didn't  want  her ;  knew  too  much,"  said  Danforth. 
"  Didn't  want  to  keep  her ;  she 's  too  cursedly  extrava 
gant.  It's  jolly  to  have  this  sort  of  concern  on  hand; 
but  I  'd  rather  Seymour  'd  pay  her  bills  than  I." 

"  Who  thought  you  were  so  practical,  Dan  ?  " 

"  Practical !  that  I  am  ;  I  'm  an  old  bird.  Take  my 
advice,  boys,  now :  keep  shy  of  the  girls,  and  flirt  with 
the  married  ones,  —  then  you  don't  get  roped  in." 

"I  say,  boys,"  said  Tom  Nichols,  "isn't  she  a  case, 
now?  What  a  head  she  has!  I  bet  she  can  smoke 
equal  to  any  of  us." 

"Yes;  I  keep  her  in  cigarettes,"  said  Danforth; 
"  she 's  got  a  box  of  them  somewhere  under  her  ruffles 
now." 

"  What  if  Seymour  should  find  them  ?  "  said  Tom. 

"Seymour?  pooh!  he's  a  muff  and  a  prig.  I  bet 
you  he  won't  find  her  out ;  she 's  the  j oiliest  little  hum- 
bugger  there  is  going.  She'd  cheat  a  fellow  out  of 
the  sight  of  his  eyes.  It 's  perfectly  wonderful." 

"  How  came  Seymour  to  marry  her  ?  " 

"He?  Why,  he's  a  pious  youth,  green  as  grass 
itself;  and  I  suppose  she  talked  religion  to  him.  Did 
you  ever  hear  her  talk  religion  ?  " 

A  roar  of  laughter  followed  this,  out  of  which  Dan 
forth  went  on.  "  By  George,  boys,  she  gave  me  a 
prayer-book  once !  I  Ve  got  it  yet." 


120  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

"Well,  if  that  isn't  the  best  thing  I  ever  heard!" 
said  Nichols. 

"It  was  at  the  time  she  was  laying  siege  to  me,  you 
see.  She  undertook  the  part  of  guardian  angel,  and 
used  to  talk  lots  of  sentiment.  The  girls  get  lots  of 
that  out  of  George  Sand's  novels  about  the  holiness 
of  doing  just  as  you've  a  mind  to,  and  all  that,"  said 
Danforth. 

"  By  George,  Dan,  you  oughtn't  to  laugh.  She  may 
have  more  good  in  her  than  you  think." 

"  Oh,  humbug !  don't  I  know  her  ?  " 

"  Well,  at  any  rate  she  's  a  wonderful  creature  to 
hold  her  looks.  By  George!  how  she  does  hold  out! 
You'd  say,  now,  she  wasn't  more  than  twenty." 

"  Yes ;  she  understands  getting  herself  up,"  said  Dan 
forth,  "  and  touches  up  her  cheeks  a  bit  now  and  then." 

"  She  don't  paint,  though  ?  " 

"  Don't  paint !  Don't  she  ?  I M  like  to  know  if  she 
don't ;  but  she  does  it  like  an  artist,  like  an  old  master, 
in  fact." 

"Or  like  a  young  mistress,"  said  Tom,  and  then 
laughed  at  his  own  wit. 

Now,  it  so  happened  that  John  was  sitting  at  an 
open  window  above,  and  heard  occasional  snatches  of 
this  conversation  quite  sufficient  to  impress  him  disa 
greeably.  He  had  not  heard  enough  to  know  exactly 
what  had  been  said,  but  enough  to  feel  that  a  set  of 
coarse,  low-minded  men  were  making  quite  free  with 
the  name  and  reputation  of  his  Lillie;  and  he  was 
indignant. 


NEWPORT.  121 

"She  is  so  pretty,  so  frank,  and  so  impulsive,"  he 
said.  "Such  women  are  always  misconstrued.  I'm 
resolved  to  caution  her." 

"  Lillie,"  he  said,  "  who  is  this  Danforth?" 

"Charlie  Danforth  —  oh!  he's  a  millionnaire  that  I 
refused.  He  was  wild  about  me,  —  is  now,  for  that 
matter.  He  perfectly  haunts  my  rooms,  and  is  always 
teasing  me  to  ride  with  him." 

"Well,  Lillie,  if  I  were  you,  I  wouldn't  have  any 
thing  to  do  with  him." 

"  John,  I  don't  mean  to,  any  more  than  I  can  help. 
I  try  to  keep  him  off  all  I  can ;  but  one  doesn't  want 
to  be  rude,  you  know." 

"My  darling,"  said  John,  "you  little  know  the 
wickedness  of  the  world,  and  the  cruel  things  that  men 
will  allow  themselves  to  say  of  women  who  are  mean 
ing  no  harm.  You  can't  be  too  careful,  Lillie." 

"  Oh !  I  am  careful.  Mamma  is  here,  you  know,  all 
the  while ;  and  I  never  receive  except  she  is  present." 

John  sat  abstractedly  fingering  the  various  objects 
on  the  table ;  then  he  opened  a  drawer  in  the  same 
mechanical  manner. 

"Why,  Lillie!  what's  this?  what  in  the  world  are 
these  ?  " 

"  O  John !  sure  enough !  well,  there  is  something  I 
was  going  to  ask  you  about.  Danforth  used  always  to 
be  sending  me  things,  you  know,  before  we  were  mar 
ried, —  flowers  and  confectionery,  and  one  thing  or 
other ;  and,  since  I  have  been  here  now,  he  has  done 
the  same,  and  I  really  didn't  know  what  to  do  about 


122  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

it.  You  know  I  didn't  want  to  quarrel  with  him,  or 
get  his  ill-will ;  he 's  a  high-spirited  fellow,  and  a  man 
one  doesn't  want  for  an  enemy ;  so  I  have  just  passed  it 
over  easy  as  I  could." 

"  But,  Lillie,  a  box  of  cigarettes !  —  of  course,  they 
can  be  of  no  use  to  you." 

"  Of  course :  they  are  only  a  sort  of  curiosity  that  he 
imports  from  Spain  with  his  cigars." 

"  I  've  a  great  mind  to  send  them  back  to  him  my 
self,"  said  John. 

"  Oh,  don't,  John !  why,  how  it  would  look !  as  if 
you  were  angry,  or  thought  he  meant  something 
wrong.  No;  I'll  contrive  a  way  to  give  'em  back 
without  offending  him.  I  am  up  to  all  such  little 
ways." 

"Come,  now,"  she  added,  "don't  let's  be  cross  just 
the  little  time  you  have  to  stay  with  me.  I  do  wish 
our  house  were  not  all  torn  up,  so  that  I  could  go  home 
with  you,  and  leave  Newport  and  all  its  bothers  be 
hind." 

"  Well,  Lillie,  you  could  go,  and  stay  with  me  at 
Grade's,"  said  John,  brightening  at  this  proposition. 

"  Dear  Gracie,  —  so  she  has  got  a  house  all  to  herself; 
how  I  shall  miss  her !  but,  really,  John,  I  think  she 
will  be  happier.  Since  you  would  insist  on  revolution 
izing  our  house,  you  know  "  — 

"  But,  Lillie,  it  was  to  please  you." 

"  Oh,  I  know  it !  but  you  know  I  begged  you  not  to. 
Well,  John,  I  don't  think  I  should  like  to  go  in  and 
settle  down  on  Grace ;  perhaps,  as  I  am  here,  and  the 


NEWPORT.  123 

sea-air  and  bathing  strengthens  me  so,  we  may  as  well 
put  it  through.  I  will  come  home  as  soon  as  the  house 
is  done." 

"But  perhaps  you  would  want  to  go  with  me  to 
New  York  to  select  the  furniture  ?  " 

"  Oh,  the  artist  does  all  that !  Charlie  Ferrola  will 
give  his  orders  to  Simon  &  Sauls,  and  they  will  do 
every  thing  up  complete.  It 's  the  way  they  all  do  — 
saves  lots  of  trouble." 

John  went  home,  after  three  days  spent  in  Newport, 
feeling  that  Lillie  was  somehow  an  injured  fair  one,  and 
that  the  envious  world  bore  down  always  on  beauty 
and  prosperity. 

But  incidentally  he  heard  and  overheard  much  that 
made  him  uneasy.  He  heard  her  admired  as  a  "  bully  " 
girl,  a  "  fast  one ; "  he  heard  of  her  smoking,  he  over 
heard  something  about  "  painting." 

The  time  was  that  John  thought  Lillie  an  embryo 
angel,  —  an  angel  a  little  bewildered  and  gone  astray, 
and  with  wings  a  trifle  the  worse  for  the  world's  wear, 
—  but  essentially  an  angel  of  the  same  nature  with  his 
own  revered  mother.) 

Gradually  the  mercury  had  been  falling  in  the  tube 
of  his  estimation.  He  had  given  up  the  angel;  and 
now  to  himself  he  called  her  "  a  silly  little  pussy,"  but 
he  did  it  with  a  smile.  It  was  such  a  neat,  white, 
graceful  pussy ;  and  all  his  own  pussy  too,  and  purred 
and  rubbed  its  little  head  on  no  coat-sleeve  but 
his,  —  of  that  he  was  certain.  Only  a  bit  silly.  She 
would  still  jib  a  little,  John  feared,  especially  when  he 


124  PINK  AND   WHITE    TYRANNY. 

looked  back  to  the  chapter  about  her  age,  —  and  then, 
perhaps,  about  the  cigarettes. 

Well,  she  might,  perhaps,  in  a  wild,  excited  hour, 
have  smoked  one  or  two,  just  for  fun,  and  the  thing  had 
been  exaggerated.  She  had  promised  fairly  to  return 
those  cigarettes,  —  he  dared  not  say  to  himself  that  he 
feared  she  would  not.  He  kept  saying  to  himself  that 
she  would.  It  was  necessary  to  say  this  often  to  make 
himself  believe  it. 

As  to  painting  —  well,  John  didn't  like  to  ask  her, 
because,  what  if  she  shouldn't  tell  him  the  truth? 
And,  if  she  did  paint,  was  it  so  great  a  sin,  poor  little 
thing?  he  would  watch,  and  bring  her  out  of  it.  After 
all,  when  the  house  was  all  finished  and  arranged,  and 
he  got  her  back  from  Newport,  there  would  be  a  long, 
quiet,  domestic  winter  at  Springdale ;  and  they  would 
get  up  their  reading-circles,  and  he  would  set  her  to 
improving  her  mind,  and  gradually  the  vision  of  this 
empty,  fashionable  life  would  die  out  of  her  horizon, 
and  she  would  come  into  his  ways  of  thinking  and 
doing. 

But,  after  all,  John  managed  to  be  proud  of  her. 
When  he  read  in  the  columns  of  "  The  Herald  "  the 
account  of  the  Splandangerous  ball  in  Newport,  and  of 
the  entrancingly  beautiful  Mrs.  J.  S.,  who  appeared  in 
a  radiant  dress  of  silvery  gauze  made  cl  la  nuage,  &c., 
&c.,  John  was  rather  pleased  than  otherwise.  Lillie 
danced  till  daylight,  —  it  showed  that  she  must  be  get 
ting  back  her  strength,  —  and  she  was  voted  the  belle 
of  the  scene.  Who  wouldn't  take  the  comfort  that  is 


NEWPORT.  125 

to  be  got  in  any  thing  ?    John  owned  this  fashionable 
meteor,  —  why  shouldn't  he  rejoice  in  it? 

Two  years  ago,  had  anybody  told  him  that  one  day 
he  should  have  a  wife  that  told  fibs,  and  painted,  and 
smoked  cigarettes,  and  danced  all  night  at  Newport, 
and  yet  that  he  should  love  her,  and  be  proud  of 
her,  he  would  have  said,  Is  thy  servant  a  dog?  He 
was  then  a  considerate,  thoughtful  John,  serious  and 
careful  in  his  life-plans ;  and  the  wife  that  was  to  be 
his  companion  was  something  celestial.  But  so  it  is. 
By  degrees,  we  accommodate  ourselves  to  the  actual 
and  existing.  To  all  intents  and  purposes,  for  us  it  is 
the  inevitable. 


CHAPTER     XII. 

HOME   A  LA    POMPADOUR. 


ELL,  Lillie  came  back  at  last;  and  John  con 
ducted  her  over  the  transformed  Seymour  man 
sion,  where  literally  old  things  had  passed  away,  and 
all  things  become  new. 

There  was  not  a  relic  of  the  past.  The  house  was 
furbished  and  resplendent  —  it  was  gilded  —  it  was 
frescoed  —  it  was  a  la  Pompadour,  and  a  la  Louis 
Quinze  and  Louis  Quatorze,  and  a  la  every  thing 
Frenchy  and  pretty,  and  gay  and  glistening.  For, 
though  the  parlors  at  first  were  the  only  apartments 
contemplated  in  this  renaissance,  yet  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  parlors,  when  all  tricked  out,  cast  such  invid 
ious  reflections  on  the  chambers  that  the  chambers  felt 
themselves  old  and  rubbishy,  and  prayed  and  stretched 
out  hands  of  imploration  to  have  something  done  for 
them  ! 

So  the  spare  chamber  was  first  included  in  the  glorifi 
cation  programme;  but,  when  the  spare  chamber  was 
once  made  into  a  Pompadour  pavilion,  it  so  flouted 
and  despised  the  other  old-fashioned  Yankee  chambers, 


HOME  A  LA  POMPADOUR.  127 

that  they  were  ready  to  die  with  envy ;  and,  in  short, 
there  was  no  way  to  produce  a  sense  of  artistic  unity, 
peace,  and  quietness,  but  to  do  the  whole  thing  over, 
which  was  done  triumphantly. 

The  French  Emperor,  Louis  Napoleon,  who  was  a 
shrewd  sort  of  a  man  in  his  day  and  way,  used  to  talk 
a  great  deal  about  the  "  logic  of  events ; "  which  lan 
guage,  being  interpreted,  my  dear  gentlemen,  means  a 
good  deal  in  domestic  life.  It  means,  for  instance,  that 
when  you  drive  the  first  nail,  or  tear  down  the  first 
board,  in  the  way  of  alteration  of  an  old  house,  you 
will  have  to  make  over  every  room  and  corner  in  it, 
and  pay  as  much  again  for  it  as  if  you  built  a  new  one. 

John  was  able  to  sympathize  with  Lillie  in  her  child 
ish  delight  in  the  new  house,  because  he  loved  her,  and 
was  able  to  put  himself  and  his  own  wishes  out  of  the 
question  for  her  sake ;  but,  when  all  the  bills  connected 
with  this  change  came  in,  he  had  emotions  with  which 
Lillie  could  not  sympathize:  first,  because  she  knew 
nothing  about  figures,  and  was  resolved  never  to  know 
any  thing ;  and,  like  all  people  who  know  nothing  about 
them,  she  cared  nothing ;  —  and,  second,  because  she 
did  not  love  John. 

Now,  the  truth  is,  Lillie  would  have  been  quite  as 
tonished  to  have  been  told  this.  She,  and  many  other 
women,  suppose  that  they  love  their  husbands,  when, 
unfortunately,  they  have  not  the  beginning  of  an  idea 
what  love  is.  Let  me  explain  it  to  you,  my  dear  lady. 
Loving  to  be  admired  by  a  man,  loving  to  be  petted  by 
him,  loving  to  be  caressed  by  him,  and  loving  to  be 


128  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

praised  by  him,  is  not  loving  a  man.  All  these  may  be 
when  a  woman  has  no  power  of  loving  at  all,  —  they 
may  all  be  simply  because  she  loves  herself,  and  loves 
to  be  flattered,  praised,  caressed,  coaxed ;  as  a  cat  likes 
to  be  coaxed  and  stroked,  and  fed  with  cream,  and  have 
a  warm  corner. 

But  all  this  is  not  love.  It  may  exist,  to  be  sure, 
where  there  is  love ;  it  generally  does.  But  it  may 
also  exist  where  there  is  no  love.  Love,  my  dear 
ladies,  is  self-sacrifice;  it  is  a  life  out  of  self  and  in 
another.  Its  very  essence  is  the  preferring  of  the  com 
fort,  the  ease,  the  wishes  of  another  to  one's  own,  for 
the  love  we  bear  them.  Love  is  giving,  and  not  receiv 
ing.  Love  is  not  a  sheet  of  blotting-paper  or  a  sponge, 
sucking  in  every  thing  to  itself;  it  is  an  out-springing 
fountain,  giving  from  itself.  Love's  motto  has  been 
dropped  in  this  world  as  a  chance  gem  of  great  price 
by  the  loveliest,  the  fairest,  the  purest,  the  strongest  of 
Lovers  that  ever  trod  this  mortal  earth,  of  whom  it  is 
recorded  that  He  said,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive."  Now,  in  love,  there  are  ten  receivers  to  one 
giver.  There  are  ten  persons  in  this  world  who  like  to 
be  loved  and  love  love,  where  there  is  one  who  knows 
how  to  love.  That,  O  my  dear  ladies,  is  a  nobler  at 
tainment  than  all  your  French  and  music  and  dancing. 
You  may  lose  the  very  power  of  it  by  smothering  it 
under  a  load  of  early  self-indulgence.  By  living  just  as 
you  are  all  wanting  to  live,  —  living  to  be  petted,  to  be 
flattered,  to  be  admired,  to  be  praised,  to  have  your 
own  way,  and  to  do  only  that  which  is  easy  and  agree- 


HOME  A  LA  POMPADOUR.  129 

able,  —  you  may  lose  the  power  of  self-denial  and  self- 
sacrifice  ;  you  may  lose  the  power  of  loving  nobly  and 
worthily,  and  become  a  mere  sheet  of  blotting-paper 
all  your  life. 

You  will  please  to  observe  that,  in  all  the  married 
life  of  these  two,  as  thus  far  told,  all  the  accommo 
dations,  compliances,  changes,  have  been  made  by  John 
for  Lillie. 

He  has  been,  step  by  step,  giving  up  to  her  his 
ideal  of  life,  and  trying,  as  far  as  so  different  a  nature 
can,  to  accommodate  his  to  hers;  and  she  accepts 
all  this  as  her  right  and  due. 

She  sees  no  particular  cause  of  gratitude  in  it,  —  it  is 
what  she  expected  when  she  married.  Her  own  spe 
cialty,  the  thing  which  she  has  always  cultivated,  is 
to  get  that  sort  of  power  over  man,  by  which  she 
can  carry  her  own  points  and  purposes,  and  make 
him  flexible  to  her  will;  nor  does  a  suspicion  of  the 
utter  worthlessness  and  selfishness  of  such  a  life  ever 
darken  the  horizon  of  her  thoughts. 

John's  bills  were  graver  than  he  expected.  It  is 
true  he  was  rich ;  but  riches  is  a  relative  term.  As 
related  to  the  style  of  living  hitherto  practised  in 
his  establishment,  John's  income  was  princely,  and  left 
a  large  balance  to  be  devoted  to  works  of  general 
benevolence ;  but  he  perceived  that,  in  this  year,  that 
balance  would  be  all  absorbed ;  and  this  troubled  him. 

Then,  again,  his  establishment  being  now  given  up 
by  his  sister  must  be  reorganized,  with  Lillie  at  its 
head ;  and  Lillie  declared  in  the  outset  that  she  could 

9 


130  PZtfK"  AND   WHITE   TYEANNY. 

not,  and  would  not,  take  any  trouble  about  any 
thing. 

"  John  would  have  to  get  servants ;  and  the  servants 
would  have  to  see  to  things : "  she  "  was  resolved,  for  one 
thing,  that  she  wasn't  going  to  be  a  slave  to  house 
keeping." 

By  great  pains  and  importunity,  and  an  offer  of  high 
wages,  Grace  and  John  retained  Bridget  in  the  estab 
lishment,  and  secured  from  New  York  a  seamstress  and 
a  waitress,  and  other  members  to  make  out  a  domestic 
staff. 

This  sisterhood  were  from  the  isle  of  Erin,  and  not 
an  unfavorable  specimen  of  that  important  portion 
of  our  domestic  life.  They  were  quick-witted,  well- 
versed  in  a  certain  degree  of  household  and  domestic 
skill,  guided  in  well-doing  more  by  impulsive  good 
feeling  than  by  any  very  enlightened  principle.  The 
dominant  idea  with  them  all  appeared  to  be,  that  they 
were  living  in  the  house  of  a  millionnaire,  where  money 
flowed  through  the  establishment  in  a  golden  stream, 
out  of  which  all  might  drink  freely  and  rejoicingly, 
with  no  questions  asked.  Mrs.  Lillie  concerned  herself 
only  with  results,  and  paid  no  attention  to  ways  and 
means.  She  wanted  a  dainty  and  generous  table  to 
be  spread  for  her,  at  all  proper  hours,  with  every 
pleasing  and  agreeable  variety;  to  which  she  should 
come  as  she  would  to  the  table  of  a  boarding-house, 
without  troubling  her  head  where  any  thing  came  from 
or  went  to.  Bridget,  having  been  for  some  years  under 
the  training  and  surveillance  of  Grace  Seymour,  was 


HOME  A  LA   POMPADOUR.  131 

more  than  usually  competent  as  cook  and  provider; 
but  Bridget  had  abundance  of  the  Irish  astuteness, 
which  led  her  to  feel  the  genius  of  circumstances,  and 
to  shape  her  course  accordingly. 

With  Grace,  she  had  been  accurate,  saving,  and 
economical ;  for  Miss  Grace  was  so.  Bridget  had  felt, 
under  her  sway,  the  beauty  of  that  economy  which 
saves  because  saving  is  in  itself  so  fitting  and  so 
respectable;  and  because,  in  this  way,  a  power  for  a 
wise  generosity  is  accumulated.  She  was  sympathetic 
with  the  ruling  spirit  of  the  establishment. 

But,  under  the  new  mistress,  Bridget  declined  in 
virtue.  The  announcement  that  the  mistress  of  a 
family  isn't  going  to  give  herself  any  trouble,  nor 
bother  her  head  with  care  about  any  thing,  is  one 
the  influence  of  which  is  felt  downward  in  every 
department.  Why  should  Bridget  give  herself  any 
trouble  to  save  and  economize  for  a  mistress  who  took 
none  for  herself?  She  had  worked  hard  all  her  life, 
why  not  take  it  easy?  And  it  was  so  much  easier 
to  send  daily  a  basket  of  cold  victuals  to  her  cousin  on 
Vine  Street  than  to  contrive  ways  of  making  the  most 
of  things,  that  Bridget  felt  perfectly  justified  in  doing 
it.  If,  once  in  a  while,  a  little  tea  and  a  paper  of 
sugar  found  their  way  into  the  same  basket,  who  would 
ever  miss  it? 

The  seamstress  was  an  elegant  lady.  She  kept  all 
Lillie's  dresses  and  laces  and  wardrobe,  and  had  some 
thing  ready  for  her  to  put  on  when  she  changed  her 
toilet  every  day.  If  this  very  fine  lady  wore  her 


132  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

mistress's  skirts  and  sashes,  and  laces  and  jewelry,  on 
the  sly,  to  evening  parties  among  the  upper  servant 
circles  of  Springdale,  who  was  to  know  it  ?  Mrs.  John 
Seymour  knew  nothing  about  where  her  things  were, 
nor  what  was  their  condition,  and  never  wanted  to 
trouble  herself  to  inquire. 

It  may  therefore  be  inferred  that  when  John  began 
to  settle  up  accounts,  and  look  into  financial  matters, 
they  seemed  to  him  not  to  be  going  exactly  in  the 
most  promising  way. 

He  thought  he  would  give  Lillie  a  little  practical 
insight  into  his  business,  —  show  her  exactly  what  his 
income  was,  and  make  some  estimates  of  his  expenses, 
just  tjiat  she  might  have  some  little  idea  how  things 
were  going. 

So  John,  with  great  care,  prepared  a  nice  little 
account-book,  prefaced  by  a  table  of  figures,  showing 
the  income  of  the  Spindlewood  property,  and  the  income 
of  his  law  business,  and  his  income  from  other  sources. 
Against  this,  he  placed  the  necessary  out-goes  of  his 
business,  and  showed  what  balance  might  be  left.  Then 
he  showed  what  had  hitherto  been  spent  for  various 
benevolent  purposes  connected  with  the  schools  and 
his  establishments  at  Spindlewood.  He  showed  what 
had  been  the  bills  for  the  refitting  of  the  house,  and 
what  were  now  the  running  current  expenses  of  the 
family. 

He  hoped  that  he  had  made  all  these  so  plain  and 
simple,  that  Lillie  might  easily  be  made  to  understand 
them,  and  that  thus  some  clear  financial  boundaries 


HOME  A  LA  POMPADOUR. 


133 


might  appear  in  her  mind.  Then  he  seized  a  favorable 
hour,  and  produced  his  book. 

"Lillie,"  he  said,  "I  want  to  make  you  understand  a 
little  about  our  expenditures  and  income." 

"  Oh,  dreadful,  John !  don't,  pray !  I  never  had  any 
head  for  things  of  that  kind." 

"  But,  Lillie,  please  let  me  show  you,"  persisted  John. 
"I've  made  it  just  as  simple  as  can  be." 


"  I  never  had  the  least  head  for  figures." 

"  O  John !  now  —  I  just  —  can't  —  there  now !  Don't 
bring  that  book  now ;  it'll  just  make  me  low-spirited 
and  cross.  I  never  had  the  least  head  for  figures; 


134  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

mamma  always  said  so;  and  if  there  is  any  thing 
that  seems  to  me  perfectly  dreadful,  it  is  accounts.  I 
don't  think  it's  any  of  a  woman's  business — it's  all 
man's  work,  and  men  have  got  to  see  to  it.  Now, 
please  don't,"  she  added,  coming  to  him  coaxingly, 
and  putting  her  arm  round  his  neck. 

"But,  you  see,  Lillie,"  John  persevered,  in  a  pleading 
tone,  — "  you  see,  all  these  alterations  that  have  been 
made  in  the  house  have  involved  very  serious  expenses ; 
and  then,  too,  we  are  living  at  a  very  different  rate 
of  expense  from  what  we  ever  lived  before  "  — 

"  There  it  is,  John !  Now,  you  oughtn't  to  reproach 
me  with  it ;  for  you  know  it  was  your  own  idea.  I  didn't 
want  the  alterations  made ;  but  you  would  insist  on  it. 
I  didn't  think  it  was  best;  but  you  would  have  them." 

"  But,  Lillie,  it  was  all  because  you  wanted  them." 

"Well,  I  dare  say;  but  I  shouldn't  have  wanted 
them  if  I  thought  it  was  going  to  bring  in  all  this 
bother  and  trouble,  and  make  me  have  to  look  over  old 
accounts,  and  all  such  things.  I  'd  rather  never  have 
had  any  thing !  "  And  here  Lillie  began  to  cry. 

"  Come,  now,  my  darling,  do  be  a  sensible  woman, 
and  not  act  like  a  baby." 

"  There,  John !  it 's  just  as  I  knew  it  would  be ;  I 
always  said  you  wanted  a  different  sort  of  a  woman  for 
a  wife.  Now,  you  knew  when  you  took  me  that  I 
wasn't  in  the  least  strong-minded  or  sensible,  but  a 
poor  little  helpless  thing;  and  you  are  beginning  to 
get  tired  of  me  already.  You  wisli  you  had  married  a 
woman  like  Grace,  I  know  you  do." 


HOME  A  LA  POMPADOUR.  135 

"Lillie,  how  silly!  Please  do  listen,  now.  You 
have  no  idea  how  simple  and  easy  what  I  want  to 
explain  to  you  is." 

"Well,  John,  I  can't  to-night,  anyhow,  because  I 
have  a  headache.  Just  this  talk  has  got  my  head  to 
thumping  so,  —  it's  really  dreadful!  and  I'm  so  low- 
spirited  !  I  do  wish  you  had  a  wife  that  would  suit 
you  better."  And  forthwith  Mrs.  Lillie  dissolved  in 
tears ;  and  John  stroked  her  head,  and  petted  her,  and 
called  her  a  nice  little  pussy,  and  begged  her  pardon 
for  being  so  rough  with  her,  and,  in  short,  acted  like  a 
fool  generally. 

"  If  that  woman  was  my  wife  now,"  I  fancy  I  hear 
some  youth  with  a  promising  moustache  remark,  "  I  'd 
make  her  behave ! " 

Well,  sir,  supposing  she  was  your  wife,  what  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it  ? 

What  are  you  going  to  do  when  accounts  give  your 
wife  a  sick  headache,  so  that  she  cannot  possibly  attend 
to  them  ?  Are  you  going  to  enact  the  Blue  Beard,  and 
rage  and  storm,  and  threaten  to  cut  her  head  off? 
What  good  would  that  do  ?  Cutting  off  a  wrong  little 
head  would  not  turn  it  into  a  right  one.  An  ancient 
proverb  significantly  remarks,  "You  can't  have  more 
of  a  cat  than  her  skin,"  —  and  no  amount  of  fuming  and 
storming  can  make  any  thing  more  of  a  woman  than 
she  is.  Such  as  your  wife  is,  sir,  you  must  take  her, 
and  make  the  best  of  it.  Perhaps  you  want  your  own 
way.  Don't  you  wish  you  could  get  it  ? 

But  didn't  she  promise  to  obey  ?    Didn't  she  ?     Of 


136  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYEANNT. 

course.  Then  why  is  it  that  I  must  be  all  the  while 
yielding  points,  and  she  never?  Well,  sir,  that  is  for 
you  to  settle.  The  marriage  service  gives  you  author 
ity  ;  so  does  the  law  of  the  land.  John  could  lock  up 
Mrs.  Lillie  till  she  learned  her  lessons ;  he  could  do  any 
of  twenty  other  things  that  no  gentleman  would  ever 
think  of  doing,  and  the  law  would  support  him  in  it. 
But,  because  John  is  a  gentleman,  and  not  Paddy  from 
Cork,  he  strokes  his  wife's  head,  and  submits. 

We  understand  that  our  brethren,  the  Methodists, 
have  recently  decided  to  leave  the  word  "  obey  "  out  of 
the  marriage-service.  Our  friends  are,  as  all  the  world 
knows,  a  most  wise  and  prudent  denomination,  and 
guided  by  a  very  practical  sense  in  their  arrangements. 
If  they  have  left  the  word  "  obey "  out,  it  is  because 
they  have  concluded  that  it  does  no  good  to  put  it  in, 
—  a  decision  that  John's  experience  would  go  a  long 
way  to  justify. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 
JOHN'S    BIRTHDAY. 

"  IV  /J~ Y  dear  Lillie,"  quoth  John  one  morning,  "  next 
-*-*-!•     week  Wednesday  is  my  birthday." 
"  Is  it  ?     How  charming !     What  shall  we  do  ?  " 
"Well,   Lillie,   it  has   always   been   our    custom  — 
Grace's  and  mine  —  to  give  a  grand  fete  here  to  all  our 
work-people.     We  invite  them  all  over  en  masse,  and 
have  the  house  and  grounds  all  open,  and  devote  our 
selves  to  giving  them  a  good  time." 
Lillie's  countenance  fell. 

"  Now,  really,  John,  how  trying !  what  shall  we  do  ? 
You  don't  really  propose  to  bring  all  those  low,  dirty, 
little  factory  children  in  Spindlewood  through  our  ele 
gant  new  house  ?  Just  look  at  that  satin  furniture,  and 
think  what  it  will  be  when  a  whole  parcel  of  freckled, 
tow-headed,  snubby-nosed  children  have  eaten  bread 
and  butter  and  doughnuts  over  it !  Now,  John,  there 
is  reason  in  all  things;  this  house  is  not  made  for  a 
missionary  asylum." 

John,  thus  admonished,  looked  at  his  house,  and  was 
fain  to  admit  that  there  was  the  usual  amount  of  that 


-t/y 
138  PINK  AND   WHITE   TTEANNY. 

good,   selfish,   hard   grit  —  called   common   sense  —  in 
Lillie's  remarks. 

Rooms  have  their  atmosphere,  their  necessities,  their 
artistic  proprieties.  Apartments  a  la  Louis  Quatorze 
represent  the  ideas  and  the  sympathies  of  a  period 
when  the  rich  lived  by  themselves  in  luxury,  and  the 
poor  were  trodden  down  in  the  gutter ;  when  there  was 
only  aristocratic  contempt  and  domination  on  one  side, 
and  servility  and  smothered  curses  on  the  other.  With 
the  change  of  the  apartments  to  the  style  of  that  past 
era,  seemed  to  come  its  maxims  and  morals,  as  artisti 
cally  indicated  for  its  completeness.  So  John  walked 
up  and  down  in  his  Louis  Quinze  salon,  and  into  his 
Pompadour  boudoir,  and  out  again  into  the  Louis 
Quatorze  dining-rooms,  and  reflected.  He  had  had 
many  reflections  in  those  apartments  before.  Of  all  ill- 
adapted  and  unsuitable  pieces  of  furniture  in  them,  he 
had  always  felt  himself  the  most  unsuitable  and  ill- 
adapted.  He  had  never  felt  at  home  in  them.  He 
never  felt  like  lolling  at  ease  on  any  of  those  elegant 
sofas,  as  of  old  he  used  to  cast  himself  into  the  motherly 
arms  of  the  great  chintz  one  that  filled  the  recess.  His 
Lillie,  with  her  smart  paraphernalia  of  hoops  and  puffs 
and  ruffles  and  pinkings  and  bows,  seemed  a  perfectly 
natural  and  indigenous  production  there ;  but  he  him 
self  seemed  always  to  be  out  of  place.  His  Lillie  might 
have  been  any  of  Balzac's  charming  duchesses,  with 
their  "  thirty-seven  thousand  ways  of  saying  '  Yes ; ' ': 
but,  as  to  himself,  he  must  have  been  taken  for  her 
steward  or  gardener,  who  had  accidentally  strayed  in, 


JOHN'S  BIRTHDAY.  139 

and  was  fraying  her  satin  surroundings  with  rough 
coats  and  heavy  boots.  There  was  not,  in  fact,  in  all 
the  reorganized  house,  a  place  where  he  felt  himself  to 
be  at  all  the  proper  thing;  nowhere  where  he  could 
lounge,  and  read  his  newspaper,  without  a  feeling  of 
impropriety;  nowhere  that  he  could  indulge  in  any 
of  the  slight  Hottentot-isms  wherein  unrenewed  male 
nature  delights,  —  without  a  feeling  of  rebuke. 

John  had  not  philosophized  on  the  causes  of  this. 
He  knew,  in  a  general  and  unconfessed  way,  that  he 
was  not  comfortable  in  his  new  arrangements;  but 
he  supposed  it  was  his  own  fault.  He  had  fallen  into 
rusty,  old-fashioned,  bachelor  ways;  and,  like  other 
things  that  are  not  agreeable  to  the  natural  man,  he 
supposed  his  trim,  resplendent,  genteel  house  was  good 
for  him,  and  that  he  ought  to  like  it,  and  by  grace 
should  attain  to  liking  it,  if  he  only  tried  long  enough. 

Only  he  took  long  rests  every  day  while  he  went  to 
Grace's,  on  Elm  Street,  and  stretched  himself  on  the 
old  sofa,  and  sat  in  his  mother's  old  arm-chair,  and  told 
Grace  how  very  elegant  their  house  was,  and  how  much 
taste  the  architect  had  shown,  and  how  much  Lillie 
was  delighted  with  it. 

But  this  silent  walk  of  John's,  up  and  down  his  bril 
liant  apartments,  opened  his  eyes  to  another  trouble 
some  prospect.  He  was  a  Christian  man,  with  a  high 
aim  and  ideal  in  life.  He  believed  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  and  other  radical  preaching  of  that  nature ; 
and  he  was  a  very  honest  man,  and  hated  humbug  in 
every  shape.  Nothing  seemed  meaner  to  him  than  to 


• 
140  PINK  AND  WHITE   TYRANNY. 


profess  a  sham.  But  it  began  in  a  cloudy  way  to  ap 
pear  to  him  that  there  is  a  manner  of  arranging  one's 
houses  that  makes  it  difficult  —  yes,  well-nigh  impossi 
ble  —  to  act  out  in  them  any  of  the  brotherhood  prin 
ciples  of  those  discourses. 

There  are  houses  where  the  self-respecting  poor,  or 
the  honest  laboring  man  and  woman,  cannot  be  made 
to  enter  or  to  feel  at  home.  They  are  made  for  the 
selfish  luxury  of  the  privileged  few.  Then  John 
reflected,  uneasily,  that  this  change  in  his  house  had 
absorbed  that  whole  balance  which  usually  remained 
on  his  accounts  to  be  devoted  to  benevolent  purposes, 
and  with  which  this  year  he  had  proposed  to  erect  a 
reading-room  for  his  work-people. 

"Lillie,"  said  John,  as  he  walked  uneasily  up  and 
down,  "  I  wish  you  would  try  to  help  me  in  this  thing. 
I  always  have  done  it,  —  my  father  and  mother  did  it 
before  me,  —  and  I  don't  want  all  of  a  sudden  to  depart 
from  it.  It  may  seem  a  little  thing,  but  it  does  a  great 
deal  of  good.  It  produces  kind  feeling ;  it  refines  and 
educates  and  softens  them." 

"  Ol},  well,  John !  if  you  say  so,  I  must,  I  suppose," 
said  Lillie,  with  a  sigh.  "  I  can  have  the  carpets  and 
furniture  all  covered,  I  suppose;  it'll  be  no  end  of 
trouble,  but  I  '11  try.  But  I  must  say,  I  think  all  this 
kind  of  petting  of  the  working-classes  does  no  sort  of 
good;  it  only  makes  them  uppish  and  exacting:  you 
never  get  any  gratitude  for  it." 

"But  you  know,  dearie,  what  is  said  about  doing 
good,  '  hoping  for  nothing  again,' "  said  John. 


JOHN'S  BIRTHDAY.  141 

"  Now,  John,  please  don't  preach,  of  all  things. 
Haven't  I  told  you  that  I  '11  try  my  best  ?  I  am  going 
to,  —  I  '11  work  with  all  my  strength,  —  you  know  that 
isn't  much,  —  but  I  shall  exert  myself  to  the  utmost  if 
you  say  so." 

"  My  dear,  I  don't  want  you  to  injure  yourself ! " 

"  Oh !  I  don't  mind,"  said  Lillie,  with  the  air  of  a 
martyr.  "The  servants,  I  suppose,  will  make  a  fuss 
about  it ;  and  I  shouldn't  wonder  if  it  was  the  means 
of  sending  them  every  one  off  in  a  body,  and  leaving 
me  without  any  help  in  the  house,  just  as  the  Follings- 
bees  and  the  Simpkinses  are  coming  to  visit  us." 

"  I  didn't  know  that  you  had  invited  the  Follingsbees 
and  Simpkinses,"  said  John. 

"  Didn't  I  tell  you  ?  I  meant  to,"  said  Mrs.  Lillie, 
innocently. 

"  I  don't  like  those  Follingsbees,  Lillie.  He  is  a  man 
I  have  no  respect  for ;  he  is  one  of  those  shoddy  up 
starts,  not  at  all  our  sort  of  folks.  I  'm  sorry  you  asked 
him." 

"But  his  wife  is  my  particular  friend,"  said  Lillie, 
"  and  they  were  very  polite  to  mamma  and  me  at  New 
port  ;  and  we  really  owe  them  some  attention." 

"  Well,  Lillie,  since  you  have  asked  them,  I  will  be 
polite  to  them ;  and  I  will  try  and  do  every  thing 
to  save  you  care  in  this  entertainment.  I  '11  speak  to 
Bridget  myself;  she  knows  our  ways,  and  has  been 
used  to  managing." 

And  so,  as  John  was  greatly  beloved  by  Bridget,  and 
as  all  the  domestic  staiF  had  the  true  Irish  fealty  to  the 


142  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

man  of  the  house,  and  would  run  themselves  off  their 
feet  in  his  service  any  day,  —  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
fete  was  holden,  as  of  yore,  in  the  grounds.  Grace  was 
there  and  helped,  and  so  were  Letitia  and  Rose  Fergu 
son  ;  and  all  passed  off  better  than  could  be  expected. 
But  John  did  not  enjoy  it.  He  felt  all  the  while  that 
he  was  dragging  Lillie  as  a  thousand-pound  weight 
after  him ;  and  he  inly  resolved  that,  once  out  of  that 
day's  festival,  he  would  never  try  to  have  it  again. 

Lillie  went  to  bed  with  sick  headache,  and  lay  two 
days  after  it,  during  which  she  cried  and  lamented  in 
cessantly.  She  "  knew  she  was  not  the  wife  for  John ; " 
she  "  always  told  him  he  wouldn't  be  satisfied  with  her, 
and  now  she  saw  he  wasn't ;  but  she  had  tried  her  very 
best,  and  now  it  was  cruel  to  think  she  should  not  suc 
ceed  any  better." 

"  My  dearest  child,"  said  John,  who,  to  say  the  truth, 
was  beginning  to  find  this  thing  less  charming  than  it 
used  to  be,  "  I  am  satisfied.  I  am  much  obliged  to 
you.  I  'm  sure  you  have  done  all  that  could  be  asked." 

"  Well,  I  'm  sure  I  hope  those  folks  of  yours  were 
pleased,"  quoth  Lillie,  as  she  lay  looking  like  a  martyr, 
with  a  cloth  wet  in  ice-water  bound  round  her  head. 
"  They  ought  to  be ;  they  have  left  grease-spots  all  over 
the  sofa  in  my  boudoir,  from  one  end  to  the  other ;  and 
cake  and  raisins  have  been  trodden  into  the  carpets ; 
and  the  turf  around  the  oval  is  all  cut  up ;  and  they 
have  broken  my  little  Diana ;  and  such  a  din  as  there 
was !  —  oh,  me  !  it  makes  my  head  ache  to  think  of  it." 

"  Never  mind,  Lillie,  I  '11  see  to  it,  and  set  it  all  right." 


JOHN'S  BIRTHDAY. 


143 


"No,  you  can't.  One  of  the  children  broke  that 
model  of  the  Leaning  Tower  too.  I  found  it.  You 
can't  teach  such  children  to  let  things  alone.  Oh,  dear 
me !  my  head ! " 


"  Oh,  me  !  it  makes  my  head  ache  to  think  of  it." 

"  There,  there,  pussy !  only  don't  worry,"  said  John, 
in  soothing  tones. 

"  Don't  think  me  horrid,  please  don't,"  said  Lillie,  pit- 
eously.  "  I  did  try  to  have  things  go  right ;  didn't  I  ?  " 

"  Certainly  you  did,  dearie ;  so  don't  worry.  I  '11  get 
all  the  spots  taken  out,  and  all  the  things  mended,  and 
make  every  thing  right." 


144  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

So  John  called  Rosa,  on  his  way  downstairs.  "  Show 
me  the  sofa  that  they  spoiled,"  said  he. 

"Sofa?"  said  Rosa. 

"  Yes ;  I  understand  the  children  greased  the  sofa  in 
Mrs.  Seymour's  boudoir." 

"Oh,  dear,  no!  nothing  of  the  sort;  I've  been  put 
ting  every  thing  to  rights  in  all  the  rooms,  and  they 
look  beautifully." 

"  Didn't  they  break  something  ?  " 

"  Oh,  no,  nothing !  The  little  things  were  good  as 
could  be." 

"  That  Leaning  Tower,  and  that  little  Diana,"  sug 
gested  John. 

"  Oh,  dear  me,  no !  I  broke  those  a  month  ago,  and 
showed  them  to  Mrs.  Seymour,  and  promised  to  mend 
them.  Oh !  she  knows  all  about  that." 

"  Ah !  "  said  John,  "  I  didn't  know  that.  Well,  Rosa, 
put  every  thing  up  nicely,  and  divide  this  money  among 
the  girls  for  extra  trouble,"  he  added,  slipping  a  bill  into 
her  hand. 

"I'm  sure  there's  no  trouble,"  said  Rosa.  "We  all 
enjoyed  it;  and  I  believe  everybody  did;  only  I'm 
sorry  it  was  too  much  for  Mrs.  Seymour ;  she  is  very 
delicate." 

"  Yes,  she  is,"  said  John,  as  he  turned  away,  drawing 
a  long,  slow  sigh. 


That  long,  slow  sigh  had  become  a  frequent  and  un 
conscious  occurrence  with  him  of  late.  When  our  ideals 
are  sick  unto  death ;  when  they  are  slowly  dying  and 


JOHWS  BIETHDAY.  145 

passing  away  from  us,  we  sigh  thus.  John  said  to  him 
self  softly,  — no  matter  what ;  but  he  felt  the  pang  of 
knowing  again  what  he  had  known  so  often  of  late, 
that  his  Lillie's  word  was  not  golden.  What  she  said 
would  not  bear  close  examination.  Therefore,  why 
examine  ? 

"  Evidently,  she  is  determined  that  this  thing  shall 
not  go  on,"  said  John.  "  Well,  I  shall  never  try  again ; 
it 's  of  no  use ; "  and  John  went  up  to  his  sister's,  and 
threw  himself  down  upon  the  old  chintz  sofa  as  if  it  had 
been  his  mother's  bosom.  His  sister  sat  there,  sewing. 
The  sun  came  twinkling  through  a  rustic  frame-work  of 
ivy  which  it  had  been  the  pride  of  her  heart  to  arrange 
the  week  before.  All  the  old  family  pictures  and  heir 
looms,  and  sketches  and  pencillings,  were  arranged  in 
the  most  charming  way,  so  that  her  rooms  seemed  a 
reproduction  of  the  old  home. 

"  Hang  it  all !  "  said  John,  with  a  great  flounce  as  he 
turned  over  on  the  sofa.  "I'm  not  up  to  par  this 
morning." 

Now,  Grace  had  that  perfect  intuitive  knowledge  of 
just  what  the  matter  was  with  her  brother,  that  wo 
men  always  have  who  have  grown  up  in  intimacy  with 
a  man.  These  fine  female  eyes  see  farther  between  the 
rough  cracks  and  ridges  of  the  oak  bark  of  manhood 
than  men  themselves.  Nothing  would  have  been  easier, 
had  Grace  been  a  jealous  exigeante  woman,  than  to  have 
passed  a  fine  probe  of  sisterly  inquiry  into  the  weak 
places  where  the  ties  between  John  and  Lillie  were 
growing  slack,  and  untied  and  loosened  them  more  and 

in 


146  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

more.  She  could  have  done  it  so  tenderly,  so  conscien 
tiously,  so  pityingly,  —  encouraging  John  to  talk  and  to 
complain,  and  taking  part  with  him,  — till  there  should 
come  to  be  two  parties  in  the  family,  the  brother  and 
sister  against  the  wife. 

How  strong  the  temptation  was,  those  may  feel  who 
reflect  that  this  one  subject  caused  an  almost  total 
eclipse  of  the  life-long  habit  of  confidence  which  had 
existed  between  Grace  and  her  brother,  and  that  her 
brother  was  her  life  and  her  world. 

But  Grace  was  one  of  those  women  formed  under 
the  kindly  severe  discipline  of  Puritan  New  England, 
to  act  not  from  blind  impulse  or  instinct,  but  from 
high  principle.  The  habit  of  self-examination  and  self- 
inspection,  for  which  the  religious  teaching  of  New 
England  has  been  peculiar,  produced  a  race  of  women 
who  rose  superior  to  those  mere  feminine  caprices 
and  impulses  which  often  hurry  very  generous  and 
kindly-natured  persons  into  ungenerous  and  dishonor 
able  conduct.  Grace  had  been  trained,  by  a  father  and 
mother  whose  marriage  union  was  an  ideal  of  mutual 
love,  honor,  and  respect,  to  feel  that  marriage  was  the 
holiest  and  most  awful  of  obligations.  To  her,  the  idea 
of  a  husband  or  a  wife  betraying  each  other's  weak 
nesses  or  faults  by  complaints  to  a  third  party  seemed 
something  sacrilegious ;  and  she  used  all  her  womanly 
tact  and  skill  to  prevent  any  conversation  that  might 
lead  to  such  a  result. 

"  Lillie  is  entirely  knocked  up  by  the  affair  yesterday ; 
she  had  a  terrible  headache  this  morning,"  said  John. 


JOHN^S  BIRTHDAY.  147 

"Poor  child!  She  is  a  delicate  little  thing,"  said 
Grace. 

"  She  couldn't  have  had  any  labor,"  continued  John, 
"for  I  saw  to  every  thing  and  provided  every  thing 
myself;  and  Bridget  and  Rosa  and  all  the  girls  entered 
into  it  with  real  spirit,  and  Lillie  did  the  best  she  could, 
poor  girl !  but  I  could  see  all  the  time  she  was  worrying 
about  her  new  fizgigs  and  folderols  in  the  house.  Hang 
it !  I  wish  they  were  all  in  the  Red  Sea ! "  burst  out 
John,  glad  to  find  something  to  vent  himself  upon. 
"If  I  had  known  that  making  the  house  over  was  going 
to  be  such  a  restraint  on  a  fellow,  I  would  never  have 
done  it." 

"  Oh,  well !  never  mind  that  now,"  said  Grace. 
"Your  house  will  get  rubbed  down  by  and  by,  and 
the  new  gloss  taken  off;  and  so  will  your  wife,  and 
you  will  all  be  cosey  and  easy  as  an  old  shoe.  Young 
mistresses,  you  see,  have  nerves  all  over  their  house  at 
first.  They  tremble  at  every  dent  in  their  furniture, 
and  wink  when  you  come  near  it,  as  if  you  were  going 
to  hit  it  a  blow ;  but  that  wears  off  in  time,  and  they 
they  learn  to  take  it  easy." 

John  looked  relieved ;  but  after  a  minute  broke  out 
again :  — 

"  I  say,  Gracie,  Lillie  has  gone  and  invited  the  Simp- 
kinses  and  the  Follingsbees  here  this  fall.  Just  think 
of  it!" 

"  Well,  I  suppose  you  expect  your  wife  to  have  the 
right  of  inviting  her  company,"  said  Grace. 

"But,  you  know,  Gracie,  they  are  not  at  all  our  sort 


148  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

of  folks,"  said  John.  "None  of  our  set  would  ever 
think  of  visiting  them,  and  it'll  seem  so  odd  to  see 
them  here.  Follingsbee  is  a  vulgar  sharper,  who  has 
made  his  money  out  of  our  country  by  dishonest  con 
tracts  during  the  war.  I  don't  know  much  about  his 
wife.  Lillie  says  she  is  her  intimate  friend." 

"  Oh,  well,  John !  we  must  get  over  it  in  the  quietest 
way  possible.  It  wouldn't  be  handsome  not  to  make 
the  agreeable  to  your  wife's  company ;  and  if  you  don't 
like  the  quality  of  it,  why,  you  are  a  good  deal  nearer 
to  her  than  any  one  else  can  be,  —  you  can  gradually 
detach  her  from  them." 

"  Then  you  think  I  ought  to  put  a  good  face  on  their 
coming  ?  "  said  John,  with  a  sigh  of  relief. 

"  Oh,  certainly !  of  course.  What  else  can  you  do  ? 
It's  one  of  the  things  to  be  expected  with  a  young 
wife." 

"  And  do  you  think  the  Wilcoxes  and  the  Fergusons 
and  the  rest  of  our  set  will  be  civil  ?  " 

"  Why,  of  course  they  will,"  said  Grace.  "  Rose  and 
Letitia  will,  certainly ;  and  the  others  will  follow  suit. 
After  all,  John,  perhaps  we  old  families,  as  we  call  our 
selves,  are  a  little  bit  pharisaical  and  self-righteous,  and 
too  apt  to  thank  God  that  we  are  not  as  other  men  are. 
It  '11  do  us  good  to  be  obliged  to  come  a  little  out  of 
our  crinkles." 

"It  isn't  any  old  family  feeling  about  Follingsbee," 
said  John.  "But  I  feel  that  that  man  deserves  to 
be  in  State's  prison  much  more  than  many  a  poor 
dog  that  is  there  now." 


JOHN'S  BIRTHDAY.  149 

"And  that  may  be  true  of  many  another,  even  in 
the  selectest  circles  of  good  society,"  said  Grace ;  "  but 
we  are  not  called  on  to  play  Providence,  nor  pronounce 
judgments.  The  common  courtesies  of  life  do  not 
commit  us  one  way  or  the  other.  The  Lord  himself 
does  not  express  his  opinion  of  the  wicked,  but  allows 
all  an  equal  share  in  his  kindliness." 

"Well,  Gracie,  you  are  right;  and  I'll  constrain 
myself  to  do  the  thing  handsomely,"  said  John. 

"  The  thing  with  you  men,"  said  Grace,  "  is,  that  you 
want  your  wives  to  see  with  your  eyes,  all  in  a  minute, 
what  has  got  to  come  with  years  and  intimacy,  and  the 
gradual  growing  closer  and  closer  together.  The  hus 
band  and  wife,  of  themselves,  drop  many  friendships 
and  associations  that  at  first  were  mutually  distasteful, 
simply  because  their  tastes  have  grown  insensibly  to 
be  the  same." 

John  hoped  it  would  be  so  with  himself  and  Lillie ; 
for  he  was  still  very  much  in  love  with  her;  and  it 
comforted  him  to  have  Grace  speak  so  cheerfully,  as  if 
it  were  possible. 

"You  think  Lillie  will  grow  into  our  ways  by  and 
by?"  —  he  said  inquiringly. 

"  Well,  if  we  have  patience,  and  give  her  time.  You 
know,  John,  that  you  knew  when  you  took  her  that  she 
had  not  been  brought  up  in  our  ways  of  living  and 
thinking.  Lillie  comes  from  an  entirely  different  set  of 
people  from  any  we  are  accustomed  to;  but  a  man 
must  face  all  the  consequences  of  his  marriage  honestly 
and  honorably." 


150  PINK  AND  WHITE  TYRANNY. 

"  I  know  it,"  said  John,  with  a  sigh.  "  I  say,  Gracie, 
do  you  think  the  Fergusons  like  Lillie  ?  I  want  her  to 
be  intimate  with  them." 

"Well,  I  think  they  admire  her,"  said  Grace,  eva 
sively,  "  and  feel  disposed  to  be  as  intimate  as  she  will 
let  them." 

"  Because,"  said  John,  "  Rose  Ferguson  is  such  a 
splendid  girl;  she  is  so  strong,  and  so  generous,  and 
so  perfectly  true  and  reliable,  —  it  would  be  the 
joy  of  my  heart  if  Lillie  would  choose  her  for  a 
friend." 

"  Then,  pray  don't  tell  her  so,"  said  Grace,  earnestly ; 
"  and  don't  praise  her  to  Lillie,  —  and,  above  all  things, 
never  hold  her  up  as  a  pattern,  unless  you  want  your 
wife  to  hate  her." 

John  opened  his  eyes  very  wide. 

"So!"  said  he,  slowly,  "I  never  thought  of  that. 
You  think  she  would  be  jealous?"  and  John  smiled,  as 
men  do  at  the  idea  that  their  wives  may  be  jealous,  not 
disliking  it  on  the  whole. 

"I  know  I  shouldn't  be  in  much  charity  with  a 
woman  my  husband  proposed  to  me  as  a  model ;  that 
is  to  say,  supposing  I  had  one,"  said  Grace. 

"That  reminds  me,"  said  John,  suddenly  rising  up 
from  the  sofa.  "Do  you  know,  Gracie,  that  Colonel 
Sydenham  has  come  back  from  his  cruise  ?  " 

"I  had  heard  of  it,"  said  Grace,  quietly.  "Now, 
John,  don't  interrupt  me.  I  'm  just  going  to  turn  this 
corner,  and  must  count,  — '  one,  two,  three,  four,  five, 
six,'"  — 


JOHN'S  BIRTHDAY.  151 

John  looked  at  his  sister.  "How  handsome  she 
looks  when  her  cheeks  have  that  color!"  he  thought. 
"I  wonder  if  there  ever  was  any  thing  in  that  affair 
between  them." 


CHAPTER    XIV. 

A   GREAT  MORAL   CONFLICT. 

""JVJOW,  John  dear,  I  have  something  very  partic- 

•*•  ^  ular  that  I  want  you  to  promise  me,"  said  Mrs. 
Lillie,  a  day  or  two  after  the  scenes  last  recorded.  Our 
Lillie  had  recovered  her  spirits,  and  got  over  her  head 
ache,  and  had  come  down  and  done  her  best  to  be 
delightful ;  and  when  a  very  pretty  woman,  who  has  all 
her  life  studied  the  art  of  pleasing,  does  that,  she 
generally  succeeds. 

John  thought  to  himself  he  "didn't  care  what  she 
was,  he  loved  her;"  and  that  she  certainly  was  the 
prettiest,  most  bewitching  little  creature  on  earth.  He 
flung  his  sighs  and  his  doubts  and  fears  to  the  wind, 
and  suffered  himself  to  be  coaxed,  and  cajoled,  and  led 
captive,  in  the  most  amiable  manner  possible. 

His  fair  one  had  a  point  to  carry,  —  a  point  that 
instinct  told  her  was  to  be  managed  with  great  adroit 
ness. 

"  Well,"  said  John,  over  his  newspaper,  "  what  is  this 
something  so  very  particular?" 

"First,  sir,  put  down  that  paper,  and  listen  to  me," 
said  Mrs.  Lillie,  coming  up  and  seating  herself  on  his 


A  GREAT  MORAL  CONFLICT.      153 

knee,  and  sweeping  down  the  offending  paper  with 
an  .air  of  authority. 

"Yes'm,"  said  John,  submissively.  "Let's  see, — 
how  was  that  in  the  marriage  service?  I  promised 
to  obey,  didn't  I?" 

"Of  course  you  did;  that  service  is  always  inter 
preted  by  contraries,  —  ever  since  Eve  made  Adam 
mind  her  in  the  beginning,"  said  Mrs.  Lillie,  laughing. 

"And  got  things  into  a  pretty  mess  in  that  way," 
said  John ;  "  but  come,  now,  what  is  it  ?  " 

"  Well,  John,  you  know  the  Follingsbees  are  coming 
next  week  ?  " 

"  I  know  it,"  said  John,  looking  amiable  and  concili 
atory. 

"  Well,  dear,  there  are  some  things  about  our  estab 
lishment  that  are  not  just  as  I  should  feel  pleased 
to  receive  them  to." 

"  Ah ! "  said  John ;  "  why,  Lillie,  I  thought  we  were 
fine  as  a  fiddle,  from  the  top  of  the  house  to  the 
bottom." 

"  Oh !  it 's  not  the  house ;  the  house  is  splendid.  I 
shouldn't  be  in  the  least  ashamed  to  show  it  to  any 
body  ;  but  about  the  table  arrangements." 

"Now,  really,  Lillie,  what  can  one  have  more  than 
real  old  china  and  heavy  silver  plate  ?  I  rather  pique 
myself  on  that ;  I  think  it  has  quite  a  good,  rich,  solid 
old  air." 

"  Well,  John,  to  say  the  truth,  why  do  we  never  have 
any  wine  ?  I  don't  care  for  it,  —  I  never  drink  it ;  but 
the  decanters,  and  the  different  colored  glasses,  and  all 


154  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

the  apparatus,  are  such  an  adornment;  and  then  the 
Follingsbees  are  such  judges  of  wine.  He  imports  his 
own  from  Spain." 

John's  face  had  been  hardening  down  into  a  firm, 
decided  look,  while  Lillie,  stroking  his  whiskers  and 
playing  with  his  collar,  went  on  with  this  address. 

At  last  he  said,  "Lillie,  I  have  done  almost  every 
thing  you  ever  asked ;  but  this  one  thing  I  cannot  do, — 
it  is  a  matter  of  principle.  I  never  drink  wine,  never 
have  it  on  my  table,  never  give  it,  because  I  have 
pledged  myself  not  to  do  it." 

"  Now,  John,  here  is  some  more  of  your  Quixotism, 
isn't  it?" 

"Well,  Lillie,  I  suppose  you  will  call  it  so,"  said 
John ;  "  but  listen  to  me  patiently.  My  father  and  I 
labored  for  a  long  time  to  root  out  drinking  from 
our  village  at  Spindlewood.  It  seemed,  for  the  time,  as 
if  it  would  be  the  destruction  of  every  thing  there. 
The  fact  was,  there  was  rum  in  every  family;  the 
parents  took  it  daily,  the  children  learned  to  love 
and  long  after  it,  by  seeing  the  parents,  and  drinking 
little  sweetened  remains  at  the  bottoms  of  tumblers. 
There  were,  every  year,  families  broken  up  and  de 
stroyed,  and  fine  fellows  going  to  the  very  devil,  with 
this  thing;  and  so  we  made  a  movement  to  form  a 
temperance  society.  I  paid  lecturers,  and  finally  lec 
tured  myself.  At  last  they  said  to  me :  <  It 's  all  very 
well  for  you  rich  people,  that  have  twice  as  fine  houses 
and  twice  as  many  pleasures  as  we  poor  folks,  to  pick  on 
us  for  having  a  little  something  comfortable  to  drink  in 


A   ORE  AT  MORAL   CONFLICT.  155 

our  houses.  If  we  could  afford  your  fine  nice  wines, 
and  all  that,  we  wouldn't  drink  whiskey.  You  must  all 
have  your  wine  on  the  table;  whiskey  is  the  poor 
man's  wine.' " 

"  I  think,"  said  Lillie,  "  they  were  abominably  imper 
tinent  to  talk  so  to  you.  I  should  have  told  them  so." 

"  Perhaps  they  thought  I  was  impertinent  in  talking 
to  them  about  their  private  affairs,"  said  John ;  "  but  I 
will  tell  you  what  I  said  to  them.  I  said, '  My  good  fel 
lows,  I  will  clear  my  house  and  table  of  wine,  if  you  will 
clear  yours  of  rum.'  On  this  agreement  I  formed  a 
temperance  society ;  my  father  and  I  put  our  names  at 
the  head  of  the  list,  and  we  got  every  man  and  boy 
in  Spindlewood.  It  was  a  complete  victory ;  and,  since 
then,  there  hasn't  been  a  more  temperate,  thrifty  set  of 
people  in  these  United  States." 

"Didn't  your  mother  object?" 

"My  mother!  no,  indeed;  I  wish  you  could  have 
known  my  mother.  It  was  no  small  sacrifice  to  her 
and  father.  Not  that  they  cared  a  penny  for  the  wine 
itself;  but  the  poetry  and  hospitality  of  the  thing, 
the  fine  old  cheery  associations  connected  with  it, 
were  a  real  sacrifice.  But  when  we  told  my  mother 
how  it  was,  she  never  hesitated  a  moment.  All  our 
cellar  of  fine  old  wines  was  sent  round  as  presents 
to  hospitals,  except  a  little  that  we  keep  for  sickness." 

"Well,  really!"  said  Lillie,  in  a  dry,  cool  tone,  "I 
suppose  it  was  very  good  of  you,  perfectly  saintlike 
and  all  that ;  but  it  does  seem  a  great  pity.  Why 
couldn't  these  people  take  care  of  themselves  ?  I 


156  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

don't  see  why  you  should  go  on  denying  yourself,  just 
to  keep  them  in  the  ways  of  virtue." 

"Oh,  it's  no  self-denial  now!  I'm  quite  used  to 
it,"  said  John,  cheerily.  "  I  am  young  and  strong,  and 
just  as  well  as  I  can  be,  and  don't  need  wine ;  in  factv 
I  never  think  of  it.  The  Fergusons,  who  are  with 
us  in  the  Spindlewood  business,  took  just  the  same 
view  of  it,  and  did  just  as  we  did;  and  the  Wilcoxes 
joined  us ;  in  fact,  all  the  good  old  families  of  our  set 
came  into  it." 

"Well,  couldn't  you,  just  while  the  Follingsbees  are 
here,  do  differently?" 

"  No,  Lillie ;  there 's  my  pledge,  you  see.  No :  it 's 
really  impossible." 

Lillie  frowned  and  looked  disconsolate. 

"  John,  I  really  do  think  you  are  selfish ;  you  don't 
seem  to  have  any  consideration  for  me  at  all.  It's 
going  to  make  it  so  disagreeable  and  uncomfortable  for 
me.  The  Follingsbees  are  accustomed  to  wine  every 
day.  I  'm  perfectly  ashamed  not  to  give  it  to  them." 

"Do  'em  good  to  fast  awhile,  then,"  said  John, 
laughing  like  a  hard-hearted  monster.  "You'll  see 
they  won't  suffer  materially.  Bridget  makes  splendid 
coffee." 

"  It 's  a  shame  to  laugh  at  what  troubles  me,  John. 
The  Follingsbees  are  my  friends,  and  of  course  I  want 
to  treat  them  handsomely." 

"  We  will  treat  them  just  as  handsomely  as  we  treat 
ourselves,"  said  John,  "and  mortal  man  or  woman 
ought  not  to  ask  more." 


A   GREAT  MORAL   CONFLICT.  157 

"I  don't  care,"  said  Lillie,  after  a  pause.  "I  hate 
all  these  moral  movements  and  society  questions.  They 
are  always  in  the  way  of  people's  having  a  good  time ; 
and  I  believe  the  world  would  wag  just  as  well  as 
it  does,  if  nobody  had  ever  thought  of  them.  People 
will  call  you  a  real  muff,  John." 

"  How  very  terrible  !  "  said  John,  laughing.  "  What 
shall  I  do  if  I  am  called  a  muff?  and  what  a  jolly  little 
Mrs.  Muff  you  will  be !  "  he  said,  pinching  her  cheek. 

"You  needn't  laugh,  John,"  said  Lillie,  pouting. 
"You  don't  know  how  things  look  in  fashionable  cir 
cles.  The  Follingsbees  are  in  the  very  highest  circle. 
They  have  lived  in  Paris,  and  been  invited  by  the 
Emperor." 

"I  haven't  much  opinion  of  Americans  who  live 
in  Paris  and  are  invited  by  the  Emperor,"  said  John. 
"But,  be  that  as  it  may,  I  shall  do  the  best  I  can 
for  them,  and  Mr.  Young  says,  '  angels  could  no  more ; ' 
so,  good-by,  puss:  I  must  go  to  my  office;  and  don't 
let 's  talk  about  this  any  more." 

And  John  put  on  his  cap  and  squared  his  broad 
shoulders,  and,  marching  off  with  a  resolute  stride, 
went  to  his  office,  and  had  a  most  uncomfortable  morn 
ing  of  it.  You  see,  my  dear  friends,  that  though 
Nature  has  set  the  seal  of  sovereignty  on  man,  in  broad 
shoulders  and  bushy  beard ;  though  he  fortify  and  incase 
himself  in  rough  overcoats  and  heavy  boots,  and  walk 
with  a  dashing  air,  and  whistle  like  a  freeman,  we  all 
know  it  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  wage  a  warfare  with  a 


158  PINK  AND  WHITE   TYRANNY. 

pretty  little  creature  in  lace  cap  and  tiny  slippers,  who  has 
a  faculty  of  looking  very  pensive  and  grieved,  and  mak 
ing  up  a  sad  little  mouth,  as  if  her  heart  were  breaking. 

John  never  doubted  that  he  was  right,  and  in  the 
way  of  duty;  and  yet,  though  he  braved  it  out  so 
stoutly  with  Lillie,  and  though  he  marched  out  from, 
her  presence  victoriously,  as  it  were,  with  drums  beat 
ing  and  colors  flying,  yet  there  was  a  dismal  sinking 
of  heart  under  it. 

"  I  'm  right ;  I  know  I  am.  Of  course  I  can't  give 
up  here;  it's  a  matter  of  principle,  of  honor,"  he 
said  over  and  over  to  himself.  "  Perhaps  if  Lillie 
had  been  here  I  never  should  have  taken  such  a  pledge; 
but  as  I  have,  there 's  no  help  for  it." 

Then  he  thought  of  what  Lillie  had  suggested  about 
it's  looking  niggardly  in  hospitality,  and  was  angry 
with  himself  for  feeling  uncomfortable.  "What  do 
I  care  what  Dick  Follingsbee  thinks  ? "  said  he  to 
himself:  "  a  man  that  I  despise ;  a  cheat,  and  a  swin 
dler,  —  a  man  of  no  principle.  Lillie  doesn't  know  the 
sacrifice  it  is  to  me  to  have  such  people  in  my  house  at 
all.  Hang  it  all!  I  wish  Lillie  was  a  little  more  like 
the  women  I  've  been  used  to,  —  like  Grace  and  Rose 
and  my  mother.  But,  poor  thing,  I  oughtn't  to  blame 
her,  after  all,  for  her  unfortunate  bringing  up.  But 
it's  so  nice  to  be  with  women  that  can  understand 
the  grounds  you  go  on.  A  man  never  wants  to  fight  a 
woman.  I'd  rather  give  up,  hook  and  line,  and  let 
Lillie  have  her  own  way  in  every  thing.  But  then 
it  won't  do;  a  fellow  must  stop  somewhere.  Well, 


A   GREAT  MORAL   CONFLICT.  159 

I'll  make  it  up  in  being  a  model  of  civility  to  these 
confounded  people  that  I  wish  were  in  the  Red  Sea. 
Let's  see,  I'll  ask  Lillie  if  she  don't  want  to  give 
a  party  for  them  when  they  come.  By  George!  she 
shall  have  every  thing  her  own  way  there,  —  send  to 
New  York  for  the  supper,  turn  the  house  topsy-turvy, 
illuminate  the  grounds,  and  do  any  thing  else  she 
can  think  of.  Yes,  yes,  she  shall  have  carte  blanche 
for  every  thing !  " 

All  which  John  told  Mrs.  Lillie  when  he  returned  to 
dinner  and  found  her  enacting  the  depressed  wife  in  a 
most  becoming  lace  cap  and  wrapper  that  made  her 
look  like  a  suffering  angel;  and  the  treaty  was  sealed 
with  many  kisses. 

"  You  shall  have  carte  blanche,  dearest,"  he  said,  "  for 
every  thing  but  what  we  were  speaking  of;  and  that 
will  content  you,  won't  it  ?  " 

And  Lillie,  with  lingering  pensiveness,  very  gracious 
ly/acknowledged  that  it  would;  and  seemed  so  touch- 
ingly  resigned,  and  made  such  a  merit  of  her  resigna 
tion,  that  John  told  her  she  was  an  angel ;  in  fact,  -he 
had  a  sort  of  indistinct  remorseful  feeling  that  he  was  a 
sort  of  cruel  monster  to  deny  her  any  thing.  Lillie  had 
sense  enough  to  see  when  she  could  do  a  thing,  and 
when  she  couldn't.  She  had  given  up  the  case  when 
John  went  out  in  the  morning,  and  so  accepted  the 
treaty  of  peace  with  a  good  degree  of  cheerfulness  ;  and 
she  was  soon  busy  discussing  the  matter.  "  You  see, 
we  Ve  been  invited  everywhere,  and  haven't  given  any 
thing,"  she  said ;  "  and  this  will  do  up  our  social  obli- 


160  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

gations  to  everybody  here.  And  then  we  can  show  off 
our  rooms ;  they  really  are  made  to  give  parties  in." 

"  Yes,  so  they  are,"  said  John,  delighted  to  see  her 
smile  again ;  "  they  seem  adapted  to  that,  and  I  don't 
doubt  you'll  make  a  brilliant  affair  of  it,  Lillie." 

"  Trust  me  for  that,  John,"  said  Lillie.  I  '11  show  the 
Follingsbees  that  something  can  be  done  here  in 
Springdale  as  well  as  in  New  York."  And  so  the  great 
question  was  settled. 


• 


CHAPTER    XV. 
THE  FOLL1NGSBEES  ARRIVE. 

\  -^l 

r(iz^~ 


N 


THE  FOLLINGSBEES. 

EXT  week  the  Follingsbees  alighted,  so  to  speak, 
from  a  cloud  of  glory.     They  came  in  their  own 
11 


162  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

carriage,  and  with  their  own  horses;  all  in  silk  and 
silver,  purple  and  fine  linen,  "with  rings  on  their 
fingers  and  bells  on  their  toes,"  as  the  old  song  has  it. 
We  pause  to  caution  our  readers  that  this  last  clause 
is  to  be  interpreted  metaphorically. 

Springdale  stood  astonished.  The  quiet,  respectable 
old  town  had  not  seen  any  thing  like  it  for  many  a  long 
day;  the  ostlers  at  the  hotel  talked  of  it;  the  boys 
followed  the  carriage,  and  hung  on  the  slats  of  the  fence 
to  see  the  party  alight,  and  said  to  one  another  in  their 
artless  vocabulary,  "  Golly !  ain't  it  bully  ?  " 

There  was  Mr.  Dick  Follingsbee,  with  a  pair  of 
waxed,  tow-colored  moustaches  like  the  French  emper 
or's,  and  ever  so  much  longer.  He  was  a  little,  thin, 
light-colored  man,  with  a  yellow  complexion  and  sandy 
hair ;  who,  with  the  appendages  aforesaid,  looked  like 
some  kind  of  large  insect,  with  very  long  antennae. 
There  was  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  —  a  tall,  handsome,  dark- 
eyed,  dark-haired,  dashing  woman,  French  dressed  from 
the  tip  of  her  lace  parasol  to  the  toe  of  her  boot. 
There  was  Mademoiselle  Therese,  the  French  maid,  an 
inexpressibly  fine  lady ;  and  there  was  la  petite  Marie, 
Mrs.  Follingsbee's  three-year-old  hopeful,  a  lean,  bright- 
eyed  little  thing,  with  a  great  scarlet  bow  on  her  back 
-  that  made  her  look  like  a  walking  butterfly.  On  the 
whole,  the  tableau  of  arrival  was  so  impressive,  that 
Bridget  and  Annie,  Rosa  and  all  the  kitchen  cabinet, 
were  in  a  breathless  state  of  excitement. 

"  How  do  I  find  you,  ma  c/iere  f  "  said  Mrs.  Follings 
bee,  folding  Lillie  rapturously  to  her  breast.  "  I  Ve 


THE  FOLLINQSBEES  ARRIVE.  163 

bee"n  just  dying  to  see  you!  How  lovely  everything 
looks !  Oh,  del!  how  like  dear  Paris ! "  she  said,  as  she 
was  conducted  into  the  parlor,  and  sunk  upon  the  sofa. 

"  Pretty  well  done,  too,  for  America !  "  said  Mr.  Fol- 
lingsbee,  gazing  round,  and  settling  his  collar.  Mr. 
Follingsbee  was  one  of  the  class  of  returned  travellers 
who  always  speak  condescendingly  of  any  thing  Ameri 
can;  as,  "so-so,"  or  "tolerable,"  or  "pretty  fair," — a 
considerateness  which  goes  a  long  way  towards  keeping 
up  the  spirits  of  the  country. 

"  I  say,  Dick,"  said  his  lady,  "  have  you  seen  to  the 
bags  and  wraps  ?  " 

"  All  right,  madam." 

"And  my  basket  of  medicines  and  the  books?" 

"  O.  K.,"  replied  Dick,  sententiously. 

"Oh!  how  often  must  I  tell  you  not  to  use  those 
odious  slang  terms?"  said  his  wife,  reprovingly. 

"  Oh !  Mrs.  John  Seymour  knows  me  of  old,"  said 
Mr.  Follingsbee,  winking  facetiously  at  Lillie.  "  We  Ve 
had  many  a  jolly  lark  together ;  haven't  we,  Lill  ?  " 

"Certainly  we  have,"  said  Lillie,  affably.  "But 
come,  darling,"  she  added  to  Mrs  Follingsbee,  "  don't 
you  want  to  be  shown  your  room  ?  " 

"  Go  it,  then,  my  dearie ;  and  I  '11  toddle  up  with  the 
fol-de-rols  and  what-you-may-calls,"  said  the  incor 
rigible  Dick.  "There,  wife,  Mrs.  John  Seymour  shall 
go  first,  so  that  you  shan't  be  jealous  of  her  and  me. 
You  know  we  came  pretty  near  being  in  interesting 
relations  ourselves  at  one  time ;  didn't  we,  now  ? "  he 
said  with  another  wink. 


164  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

It  is  said  that  a  thorough-paced  naturalist  can  recon 
struct  a  whole  animal  from  one  specimen  bone.  In  like 
manner,  we  imagine  that,  from  these  few  words  of 
dialogue,  our  expert  readers  can  reconstruct  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Follingsbee :  he,  vulgar,  shallow,  sharp,  keen  at  a 
bargain,  and  utterly  without  scruples;  with  a  sort  of 
hilarious,  animal  good  nature  that  was  in  a  state  of  con 
stant  ebullition.  He  was,  as  Richard  Baxter  said  of  a 
better  man,  "  always  in  that  state  of  hilarity  that  another 
would  be  in  when  he  hath  taken  a  cup  too  much." 

Dick  Follingsbee  began  life  as  a  peddler.  He  was 
now  reputed  to  be  master  of  untold  wealth,  kept  a 
yacht  and  race-horses,  ran  his  own  theatre,  and  patron 
ized  the  whole  world  and  creation  in  general  with  a 
jocular  freedom.  Mrs.  Follingsbee  had  been  a  country 
girl,  with  small  early  advantages,  but  considerable 
ambition.  She  had  married  Dick  Follingsbee,  and 
helped  him  up  in  the  world,  as  a  clever,  ambitious 
woman  may.  The  last  few  years  she  had  been  spend 
ing  in  Paris,  improving  her  mind  and  manners  in 
reading  Dumas'  and  Madame  George  Sand's  novels, 
and  availing  herself  of  such  outskirt  advantages  of 
the  court  of  the  Tuileries  as  industrious,  pains-tak 
ing  Americans,  not  embarrassed  by  self-respect,  may 
command. 

Mrs.  Follingsbee,  like  many  another  of  our  republi 
cans  who  besieged  the  purlieus  of  the  late  empire, 
felt  that  a  residence  near  the  court,  at  a  time  when 
every  thing  good  and  decent  in  France  was  hiding 
in  obscure  corners,  and  every  thing  parvenu  was 


THE  FOLLINGSBEES  ARRIVE.  1G5 

wide  awake  and  active,  entitled  her  to  speak  as  one 
having  authority  concerning  French  character,  French 
manners  and  customs.  This  lady  assumed  the  senti 
mental  literary  role.  She  was  always  cultivating  her 
self  in  her  own  way ;  that  is  to  say,  she  was  assiduous 
in  what  she  called  keeping  up  her  French. 

In  the  opinion  of  many  of  her  class  of  thinkers, 
French  is  the  key  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven ;  and,  of 
course,  it  is  worth  one's  while  to  sell  all  that  one 
has  to  be  possessed  of  it.  Mrs.  Follingsbee  had  not 
been  in  the  least  backward  to  do  this;  but,  as  to 
getting  the  golden  key,  she  had  not  succeeded.  She 
had  formed  the  acquaintance  of  many  disreputable  peo 
ple  ;  she  had  read  French  novels  and  French  plays 
such  as  no  well-bred  French  woman  would  suffer  in 
her  family ;  she  had  lost  such  innocence  and  purity  of 
mind  as  she  had  to  lose,  and,  after  all,  had  not  got  the 
French  language. 

However,  there  are  losses  that  do  not  trouble  the 
subject  of  them,  because  they  bring  insensibility. )  Just 
as  Mrs.  Follingsbee's  ear  was  not  delicate  enough  to 
perceive  that  her  rapid  and  confident  French  was  not 
Parisian,  so  also  her  conscience  and  moral  sense  were 
not  delicate  enough  to  know  that  she  had  spent  her 
labor  for  "that  which  was  not  bread."  She  had  only 
succeeded  in  acquiring  such  an  air  that,  on  a  careless 
survey,  she  might  have  been  taken  for  one  of  the  demi 
monde  of  Paris;  while  secretly  she  imagined  herself 
the  fascinating  heroine  of  a  French  romance.) 

The  friendship  between  Mrs.  Follingsbee  and  Lillie 


166  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

was  of  the  most  impassioned  nature ;  though,  as  both 
of  them  were  women  of  a  good  solid  perception  in 
regard  to  their  own  material  interests,  there  were 
excellent  reasons  on  both  sides  for  this  enthusiasm. 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  wealth  of  the  Fol- 
lingsbees,  there  were  circles  to  which  Mrs.  Follingsbee 
found  it  difficult  to  be  admitted.  With  the  usual 
human  perversity,  these,  of  course,  became  exactly  the 
ones,  and  the  only  ones,  she  particularly  cared  for. 
Her  ambition  was  to  pass  beyond  the  ranks  of  the 
"shoddy"  aristocracy  to  those  of  the  old-established 
families.  Now,  the  Seymours,  the  Fergusons,  and  the 
Wilcoxes  were  families  of  this  sort ;  and  none  of  them 
had  ever  cared  to  conceal  the  fact,  that  they  did  not 
intend  to  know  the  Follingsbees.  The  marriage  of 
Lillie  into  the  Seymour  family  was  the  opening  of  a 
door;  and  Mrs.  Follingsbee  had  been  at  Lillie's  feet 
during  her  Newport  campaign.  On  the  other  hand, 
Lillie,  having  taken  the  sense  of  the  situation  at 
Springdale,  had  cast  her  thoughts  forward  like  a  dis 
creet  young  woman,  and  perceived  in  advance  of  her 
a  very  dull  domestic  winter,  enlivened  only  by  read 
ing-circles  and  such  slow  tea-parties  as  unsophisticated 
Springdale  found  agreeable.  The  idea  of  a  long  visit 
t)  the  New- York  alhambra  of  the  Follingsbees  in  the 
winter,  with  balls,  parties,  unlimited  opera-boxes,  was 
not  a  thing  to  be  disregarded  ;  and  so,  when  Mrs.  Fol 
lingsbee  "ma  chered"  Lillie,  Lillie  "my  deared"  Mrs. 
Follingsbee :  and  the  pair  are  to  be  seen  at  this  blessed 
moment  sitting  with  their  arms  tenderly  round  each 


THE  FOLL1NGSBEES  ARRIVE.  167 

other's  waists  on  a  causeuse  in  Mrs.  Follingsbee's  dress 
ing-room. 

"  You  don't  know,  mignonne?  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee, 
"  how  perfectly  ravissante  these  apartments  are !  I  'm 
so  glad  poor  Charlie  did  them  so  well  for  you.  I  laid 
my  commands  on  him,  poor  fellow !  " 

"Pray,  how  does  your  affair  with  him  get  on?"  said 
Lillie. 

"  O  dearest !  you  've  no  conception  what  a  trial  it  is  to 
me  to  keep  him  in  the  bounds  of  reason.  He  has  such 
struggles  of  mind  about  that  stupid  wife  of  his.  Think 
of  it,  my  dear !  a  man  like  Charlie  Ferrola,  all  poetry, 
romance,  ideality,  tied  to  a  woman  who  thinks  of  noth 
ing  but  her  children's  teeth  and  bowels,  and  turns  the 
whole  house  into  a  nursery!  Oh,  I've  no  patience 
with  such  people." 

"  Well,  poor  fellow !  it 's  a  pity  he  ever  got  married," 
said  Lillie. 

"  Well,  it  would  be  all  well  enough  if  this  sort  of 
woman  ever  would  be  reasonable ;  but  they  won't. 
They  don't  in  the  least  comprehend  the  necessities  of 
genius.  They  want  to  yoke  Pegasus  to  a  cart,  you  see. 
Now,  I  understand  Charlie  perfectly.  I  could  give  him 
that  which  he  needs.  I  appreciate  him.  I  make  a 
bower  of  peace  and  enjoyment  for  him,  where  his  ar 
tistic  nature  finds  the  repose  it  craves." 

"And  she  pitches  into  him  about  you,"  said  Lillie, 
Tnot  slow  to  perceive  the  true  literal  rendering  of  all 
this. 

"  Of  course,  ma  chdre,  —  tears  him,  rends  him,  lacer- 


168  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

ates  his  soul ;  sometimes  he  comes  to  me  in  the  most 
dreadful  states.  Really,  dear,  I  have  apprehended 
something  quite  awful!  I  shouldn't  in  the  least  be 
surprised  if  he  should  blow  his  brains  out ! " 

And  Mrs.  Follingsbee  sighed  deeply,  gave  a  glance  at 
herself  in  an  opposite  mirror,  and  smoothed  down  a 
bow  pensively,  as  the  prima  donna  at  the  grand  opera 
generally  does  when  her  lover  is  getting  ready  to  stab 
himself. 

"  Oh !  I  don't  think  he 's  going  to  kill  himself,"  said 
Mrs.  Lillie,  who,  it  must  be  understood,  was  secretly 
somewhat  sceptical  about  the  power  of  her  friend's 
charms,  and  looked  on  this  little  French  romance  with 
the  eye  of  an  outsider :  "  never  you  believe  that,  dear 
est.  These  men  make  dreadful  tearings,  and  shocking 
eyes  and  mouths  ;  but  they  take  pretty  good  care  to 
keep  in  the  world,  after  all.  You  see,  if  a  man 's  dead, 
there 's  an  end  of  all  things ;  and  I  fancy  they  think  of 
that  before  they  quite  come  to  any  thing  decisive." 

"  Chere  etourdie,"  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  regarding 
Lillie  with  a  pensive  smile  :  "  you  are  just  your  old  self,  I 
see  ;  you  are  now  at  the  height  of  your  power,  —  '•jeune 
Madame,  un  mari  qui  vous  adore]  ready  to  put  all 
things  under  your  feet.  How  can  you  feel  for  a  worn, 
lonely  heart  like  mine,  that  sighs  for  congeniality  ?  " 

"  Bless  me,  now,"  said  Lillie,  briskly ;  "  you  don't  tell 
me  that  you  're  going  to  be  so  silly  as  to  get  in  love 
with  Charlie  yourself!  It's  all  well  enough  to  keep 
these  fellows  on  the  tragic  high  ropes ;  but,  if  a  woman 
falls  in  love  herself,  there 's  an  end  of  her  power.  And, 


THE  FOLLINGSBEES  ARRIVE.  169 

darling,  just  think  of  it:  you  wouldn't  have  married 
that  creature  if  you  could ;  he 's  poor  as  a  rat,  and 
always  will  be;  these  desperately  interesting  fellows 
always  are.  Now  you  have  money  without  end ;  and 
of  course  you  have  position ;  and  your  husband  is  a 
man  you  can  get  any  thing  in  the  world  out  of." 

"  Oh !  as  to  that,  I  don't  complain  of  Dick,"  said 
Mrs.  Follingsbee :  "  he 's  coarse  and  vulgar,  to  be  sure, 
but  he  never  stands  in  my  way,  and  I  never  stand  in 
his ;  and,  as  you  say,  he 's  free  about  money.  But  still, 
darling,  sometimes  it  seems  to  me  such  a  weary  thing  to 
live  without  sympathy  of  soul !  A  marriage  without 
congeniality,  mon  Dieu,  what  is  it  ?  And  then  the 
harsh,  cold  laws  of  human  society  prevent  any  relief. 
They  forbid  natures  that  are  made  for  each  other  from 
being  to  each  other  what  they  can  be." 

"  You  mean  that  people  will  talk  about  you,"  said 
Lillie.  "  Well,  I  assure  you,  dearest,  they  will  talk  aw 
fully,  if  you  are  not  very  careful.  I  say  this  to  you 
frankly,  as  your  friend,  you  know." 

"  Ah,  ma  petite  !  you  don't  need  to  tell  me  that.  I 
am  careful,"  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee.  "  I  am  always  lec 
turing  Charlie,  and  showing  him  that  we  must  keep  up 
les  convenances ;  but  is  it  not  hard  on  us  poor  women 
to  lead  always  this  repressed,  secretive  life  ?  " 

"  What  made  you  marry  Mr.  Follingsbee  ? "  said 
Lillie,  with  apparent  artlessness. 

"  Darling,  I  was  but  a  child.  I  was  ignorant  of  the 
mysteries  of  my  own  nature,  of  my  capabilities.  As 
Charlie  said  to  me  the  other  day,  we  never  learn  what 


170  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYEANNY. 

we  are  till  some  congenial  soul  unlocks  the  secret  door 
of  our  hearts.  The  fact  is,  dearest,  that  American  so 
ciety,  with  its  strait-laced,  puritanical  notions,  bears 
terribly  hard  on  woman's  heart.  Poor  Charlie !  he  is 
no  less  one  of  the  victims  of  society." 

"  Oh,  nonsense !  "  said  Lillie.  "  You  take  it  too  much 
to  heart.  You  mustn't  mind  all  these  men  say.  They 
are  always  being  desperate  and  tragic.  Charlie  has 
talked  just  so  to  me,  time  and  time  again.  I  under 
stand  it  all.  He  talked  exactly  so  to  me  when  he  came 
to  Newport  last  summer.  You  must  take  matters  easy, 
my  dear,  —  you,  with  your  beauty,  and  your  style,  and 
your  money.  Why,  you  can  lead  all  New  York  cap 
tive  !  Forty  fellows  like  Charlie  are  not  worth  spoiling 
one's  dinner  for.  Come,  cheer  up ;  positively  I  shan't 
let  you  be  blue,  ma  reine.  Let  me  ring  for  your  maid 
to  dress  you  for  dinner.  Au  revoir? 

The  fact  was,  that  Mrs.  Lillie,  having  formerly  set 
down  this  lovely  Charlie  on  the  list  of  her  own  adorers, 
had  small  sympathy  with  the  sentimental  romance  of  her 
friend. 

"What  a  fool  she  makes  of  herself! "  she  thought,  as 
she  contemplated  her  own  sylph-like  figure  and  won 
derful  freshness  of  complexion  in  the  glass.  "  Don't  I 
know  Charlie  Ferrola?  he  wants  her  to  get  him  into 
fashionable  life,  and  knows  the  way  to  do  it.  To  think 
of  that  stout,  middle-aged  party  imagining  that  Charlie 
Ferrola 's  going  to  die  for  her  charms !  it 's  too  funny ! 
How  stout  the  dear  old  thing  does  get,  to  be  sure ! " 

It  will  be  observed  here  that  our  dear  Lillie  did  not 


THE  FOLLINGSBEES  AREIVE. 


171 


want  for  perspicacity.  There  is  nothing  so  absolutely 
clear-sighted,  in  certain  directions,  as  selfishness.  En 
tire  want  of  sympathy  with  others  clears  up  one's  vis 
ion  astonishingly,  and  enables  us  to  see  all  the  weak 
points  and  ridiculous  places  of  our  neighbors  in  the 
most  accurate  manner  possible. 


MR.  CHARLIE  FERROLA. 

As  to  Mr.  Charlie  Ferrola,  our  Lillie  was  certainly 
in  the  right  in  respect  to  him.  He  was  one  of  those 
blossoms  of  male  humanity  that  seem  as  expressly  de- 


172  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

s:gned  J>y  nature  for  the  ornamentation  of  ladies'  bou 
doirs,  as  an  Italian  greyhound:  he  had  precisely  the 
same  graceful,  shivery  adaptation  to  live  by  petting  and 
caresses.  His  tastes  were  all  so  exquisite  that  it  was 
the  most  difficult  thing  in  the  world  to  keep  him  out  of 
misery  a  moment.  He  was  in  a  chronic  state  of  disgust 
with  something  or  other  in  our  lower  world  from  morn 
ing  till  night. 

His  profession  was  nominally  that  of  architecture 
and  landscape  gardening ;  but,  in  point  of  fact,  con 
sisted  in  telling  certain  rich,  blase,  stupid,  fashionable 
people  how  they  could  quickest  get  rid  of  their  money. 
He  ruled  despotically  in  the  Follingsbee  halls:  he 
bought  and  rejected  pictures  and  jewelry,  ordered  and 
sent  off  furniture,  with  the  air  of  an  absolute  master ; 
amusing  himself  meanwhile  with  running  a  French 
romance  with  the  handsome  mistress  of  the  establish 
ment.  As  a  consequence,  he  had  not  only  opportuni 
ties  for  much  quiet  feathering  of  his  own  nest,  but  the 
eclat  of  always  having  the  use  of  the  Follingsbees' 
carriages,  horses,  and  opera-boxes,  and  being  the  ac 
knowledged  and  supreme  head  of  fashionable  dictation. 
Ladies  sometimes  pull  caps  for  such  charming  indi 
viduals,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Follings 
bee  and  Lillie. 

For  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  Mrs.  Follingsbee, 
though  she  had  assumed  the  gushing  style  with  her 
young  friend,  wanted  spirit  or  perception  on  her  part. 
Her  darling  Lillie  had  left  a  nettle  in  her  bosom  which 
rankled  there. 


THE  FOLLINOSBEES  ARRIVE.  173 

"  The  vanity  of  these  thin,  light,  watery  blondes  !  " 
she  said  to  herself,  as  she  looked  into  her  own  great 
dark  eyes  in  the  mirror,  —  "  thinking  Charlie  Ferrola 
cares  for  her!  I  know  just  what  he  thinks  of  Aer,  thank 
heaven !  Poor  thing !  Don't  you  think  Mrs.  John  Sey 
mour  has  gone  off  astonishingly  since  her  marriage  ?  " 
she  said  to  Therese. 

"  Mon  Dieu,  madame,  <£oui?  said  the  obedient  tire 
woman,  scraping  the  very  back  of  her  throat  in  her 
zeal.  "Madame  Seymour  has  the  real  American 
maigreur.  These  thin  women,  madame,  they  have  no 
substance;  there  is  noting  to  them.  For  young  girl, 
they  are  charming;  but,  as  woman,  they  are  just  noting 
at  all.  Now,  you  will  see,  madame,  what  I  tell  you. 
In  a  year  or  two,  people  shall  ask, '  Was  she  ever  hand 
some?'  But  you,  madame,  you  come  to  your  prime 
like  great  rose !  Oh,  dere  is  no  comparison  of  you  to 
Mrs.  John  Seymour!" 

And  Therese  found  her  words  highly  acceptable, 
after  the  manner  of  all  her  tribe,  who  prophesy  smooth 
things  unto  their  mistresses. 

It  may  be  imagined  that  the  entertaining  of  Dick 
Follingsbee  was  no  small  strain  on  the  conjugal  endur 
ance  of  our  faithful  John;  but  he  was  on  duty,  and 
endured  without  flinching  that  gentleman's  free  and 
easy  jokes  and  .patronizing  civilities. 

"  I  do  wish,  darling,  you  'd  teach  that  creature  not  to 
call  you  'Lillie'  in  that  abominably  free  manner,"  he 
said  to  his  wife,  the  first  day,  after  dinner. 

"  Mercy  on  us,  John !  what  can  I  do  ?    All  the  world 


174  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

knows  that  Dick  Follingsbee 's  an  oddity;  and  every 
body  agrees  to  take  what  he  says  for  what  it 's  worth. 
If  I  should  go  to  putting  on  any  airs,  he  'd  behave  ten 
times  worse  than  he  does :  the  only  way  is,  to  pass  it 
over  quietly,  and  not  to  seem  to  notice  any  thing  he 
says  or  does.  My  way  is,  to  smile,  and  look  gracious, 
and  act  as  if  I  hadn't  heard  any  thing  but  what  is 
perfectly  proper." 

"  It 's  a  tremendous  infliction,  Lillie ! " 

"Poor  man!  is  it?"  said  Lillie,  putting  her  arm 
round  his  neck,  and  stroking  his  whiskers.  "Well, 
now,  he  's  a  good  man  to  bear  it  so  well,  so  he  is ;  and 
they  shan't  plague  him  long.  But,  John,  you  must 
confess  Mrs.  Follingsbee  is  nice :  poor  woman !  she  is 
mortified  with  the  way  Dick  will  go  on ;  but  she  can't 
do  any  thing  with  him." 

"Yes,  I  can  get  on  with  her,"  said  John.  In  fact, 
John  was  one  of  the  men  so  loyal  to  women  that  his 
path  of  virtue  in  regard  to  them  always  ran  down  hill. 
Mrs.  Follingsbee  was  handsome,  and  had  a  gift  in 
language,  and  some  considerable  tact  in  adapting  her 
self  to  her  society ;  and,  as  she  put  forth  all  her  powers 
to  win  his  admiration,  she  succeeded. 

Grace  had  done  her  part  to  assist  John  in  his  hospi 
table  intents,  by  securing  the  prompt  co-operation  of  the 
Fergusons.  The  very  first  evening  after  their  arrival, 
old  Mrs.  Ferguson,  with  Letitia  and  Rose,  called,  not 
formally  but  socially,  as  had  always  been  the  custom 
of  the  two  families.  Dick  Follingsbee  was  out,  enjoy 
ing  an  evening  cigar,  —  a  circumstance  on  which  John 


THE  FOLLINGSBEES  ARRIVE.  175 

secretly  congratulated  himself  as  a  favorable  feature  in 
the  case.  He  felt  instinctively  a  sort  of  uneasy  respon 
sibility  for  his  guests ;  and,  judging  the  Fergusons  by 
himself,  felt  that  their  call  was  in  some  sort  an  act  of 
self-abnegation  on  his  account ;  and  he  was  anxious  to 
make  it  as  easy  as  possible.  Mrs.  Follingsbee  was  pre 
sentable,  so  he  thought ;  but  he  dreaded  the  irrepres 
sible  Dick,  and  had  much  the  same  feeling  about  him 
that  one  has  on  presenting  a  pet  spaniel  or  pointer  in  a 
lady's  parlor,  —  there  was  no  answering  for  what  he 
might  say  or  do. 

The  Fergusons  were  disposed  to  make  themselves 
most  amiable  to  Mrs.  Follingsbee ;  and,  with  this  intent, 
Miss  Letitia  started  the  subject  of  her  Parisian  experi 
ences,  as  being  probably  one  where  she  would  feel  her 
self  especially  at  home.  Mrs.  Follingsbee  of  course 
expanded  in  rapturous  description,  and  was  quite  clever 
and  interesting. 

"  You  must  feel  quite  a  difference  between  that  coun 
try  and  this,  in  regard  to  facilities  of  living,"  said  Miss 
Letitia. 

"  Ah,  indeed !  do  I  not  ?  "  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  cast 
ing  up  her  eyes.  "  Life  here  in  America  is  in  a  state 
of  perfect  disorganization." 

"  We  are  a  young  people  here,  madam,"  said  John. 
"We  haven't  had  time  to  organize  the  smaller  con 
veniences  of  life." 

"Yes,  that's  what  I  mean,"  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee. 
"Now,  you  men  don't  feel  it  so  very  much;  but  it 
bears  hard  on  us  poor  women.  Life  here  in  America  is 


176  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

perfect  slavery  to  women,  —  a  perfect  dead  grind.  You 
see  there  's  no  career  at  all  for  a  married  woman  in  this 
country,  as  there  is  in  France.  Marriage  there  opens  a 
brilliant  prospect  before  a  girl :  it  introduces  her  to  the 
world ;  it  gives  her  wings.  In  America,  it  is  clipping 
her  wings,  chaining  her  down,  shutting  her  up,  —  no 
more  gayety,  no  more  admiration ;  nothing  but  cradles 
and  cribs,  and  bibs  and  tuckers,  little  narrowing,  wear 
ing,  domestic  cares,  hard,  vulgar  domestic  slaveries: 
and  so  our  women  lose  their  bloom  and  health  and 
freshness,  and  are  moped  to  death." 

"I  can't  see  the  thing  in  that  light,  Mrs.  Follings- 
bee,"  said  old  Mrs.  Ferguson.  "I  don't  understand 
this  modern  talk.  I  am  sure,  for  one,  I  can  say  I  have 
had  all  the  career  I  wanted  ever  since  I  married.  You 
knoAV,  dear,  when  one  begins  to  have  children,  one's 
heart  goes  into  them :  we  find  nothing  hard  that  wre  do 
for  the  dear  little  things.  I  Ve  heard  that  the  Parisian 
ladies  never  nurse  their  own  babies.  From  my  very 
heart,  I  pity  them." 

"  Oh,  my  dear  madam ! "  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  "  why 
insist  upon  it  that  a  cultivated,  intelligent  woman  shall 
waste  some  of  the  most  beautiful  years  of  her  life  in  a 
mere  animal  function,  that,  after  all,  any  healthy  peas 
ant  can  perform  better  than  she?  The  French  are 
a  philosophical  nation ;  and,  in  Paris,  you  see,  this  thing 
is  all  systematic :  it 's  altogether  better  for  the  child. 
It 's  taken  to  the  country,  and  put  to  nurse  with  a  good 
strong  woman,  who  makes  that  her  only  business.  She 
just  lives  to  be  a  good  animal,  you  see,  and  so  is  a 


THE  FOLLINGSBEES  ARRIVE.     177 

better  one  than  a  more  intellectual  being  can  be ;  thus 
she  gives  the  child  a  strong  constitution,  which  is  the 
main  thing." 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Letitia ;  "  I  was  told,  when  in  Paris, 
that  this  system  is  universal.  The  dressmaker,  who 
works  at  so  much  a  day,  sends  her  child  out  to  nurse  as 
certainly  as  the  woman  of  rank  and  fashion.  There  are 
no  babies,  as  a  rule,  in  French  households." 

"  And  you  see  how  good  this  is  for  the  mother,"  said 
Mrs.  Follingsbee.  "  The  first  year  or  two  of  a  child's 
life  it  is  nothing  but  a  little  animal ;  and  one  person 
can  do  for  it  about  as  well  as  another:  and  all  this 
time,  while  it  is  growing  physically,  the  mother  has 
for  art,  for  self-cultivation,  for  society,  and  for  litera 
ture.  Of  course  she  keeps  her  eye  on  her  child,  and 
visits  it  often  enough  to  know  that  all  goes  right 
with  it." 

"  Yes,"  said  Miss  Letitia ;  "  and  the  same  philosophi 
cal  spirit  regulates  the  education  of  the  child  throughout. 
An  American  gentleman,  who  wished  to  live  in  Paris, 
told  me  that,  having  searched  all  over  it,  he  could  not 
accommodate  his  family,  including  himself  and  wife 
and  two  children,  without  taking  two  of  the  suites  that 
are  usually  let  to  one  family.  The  reason,  he  inferred, 
was  the  perfection  of  the  system  which  keeps  the 
French  family  reduced  in  numbers.  The  babies  are 
out  at  nurse,  sometimes  till  two,  and  sometimes  till 
three  years  of  age ;  and,  at  seven  or  eight,  the  girl  goes 
into  a  pension,  and  the  boy  into  a  college,  till  they  are 
ready  to  be  taken  out,  —  the  girl  to  be  married,  and  the 

12 


178  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

boy  to  enter  a  profession :  so  the  leisure  of  parents  for 
literature,  art,  and  society  is  preserved." 

"  It  seems  to  me  the  most  perfectly  dreary,  dreadful 
way  of  living  I  ever  heard  of,"  said  Mrs.  Ferguson, 
with  unwonted  energy.  "How  I  pity  people  who 
know  so  little  of  real  happiness  ! " 

"  Yet  the  French  are  dotingly  fond  of  children,"  said 
Mrs.  Follingsbee.  "It's  a  national  peculiarity;  you 
can  see  it  in  all  their  literature.  Don't  you  remember 
Victor  Hugo's  exquisite  description  of  a  mother's  feel 
ings  for  a  little  child  in  '  Notre  Dame  de  Paris '  ?  I  never 
read  any  thing  more  affecting ;  it 's  perfectly  subduing." 

"  They  can't  love  their  children  as  I  did  mine,"  said 
Mrs.  Ferguson  :  "  it 's  impossible  ;  and,  if  that 's  what 's 
called  organizing  society,  I  hope  our  society  in  America 
never  will  be  organized.  It  can't  be  that  children  are 
well  taken  care  of  on  that  system.  I  always  attended 
to  every  thing  for  my  babies  myself;  because  I  felt  God 
had  put  them  into  my  hands  perfectly  helpless  ;  and,  if 
there  is  any  thing  difficult  or  disagreeable  in  the  case, 
how  can  I  expect  to  hire  a  woman  for  money  to  be 
faithful  in  what  I  cannot  do  for  love  ?  " 

"  But  don't  you  think,  dear  madam,  that  this  system 
of  personal  devotion  to  children  may  be  carried  too 
far?"  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee.  "Perhaps  in  France 
they  may  go  to  an  extreme ;  but  don't  our  American 
women,  as  a  rule,  sacrifice  themselves  too  much  to  their 
families?" 

"Sacrifice!"  said  Mrs.  Ferguson.  "How  can  we? 
Our  children  are  our.  new  life.  We  live  in  them  a 


THE  FOLLINGSBEES  ARRIVE.  179 

thousand  times  more  than  we  could  in  ourselves.  No, 
I  think  a  mother  that  doesn't  take  care  of  her  own  baby 
misses  the  greatest  happiness  a  woman  can  know.  A 
baby  isn't  a  mere  animal ;  and  it  is  a  great  and  solemn 
thing  to  see  the  coming  of  an  immortal  soul  into  it 
from  day  to  day.  My  very  happiest  hours  have  been 
spent  with  my  babies  in  my  arms." 

"  There  may  be  women  constituted  so  as  to  enjoy  it," 
said  Mrs.  Follingsbee  ;  "  but  you  must  allow  that  there 
is  a  vast  difference  among  women." 

"  There  certainly  is,"  said  Mrs.  Ferguson,  as  she  rose 
with  a  frigid  courtesy,  and  shortened  the  call.  "My 
dear  girls,"  said  the  old  lady  to  her  daughters,  when 
they  returned  home,  "  I  disapprove  of  that  woman.  I 
am  very  sorry  that  pretty  little  Mrs.  Seymour  has  so 
bad  a  friend  and  adviser.  Why,  the  woman  talks  like 
a  Fejee  Islander!  Baby  a  mere  animal,  to  be  sure  !  it 
puts  me  out  of  temper  to  hear  such  talk.  The  woman 
talks  as  if  she  had  never  heard  of  such  a  thing  as  love 
in  her  life,  and  don't  know  what  it  means." 

"  Oh,  well,  mamma ! "  said  Rose,  "  you  know  we  are 
old-fashioned  folks,  and  not  up  to  modern  improve 
ments." 

"  Well,"  said  Miss  Letitia,  "  I  should  think  that  that 
poor  little  weird  child  of  Mrs.  Follingsbee's,  with  the 
great  red  bow  on  her  back,  had  been  brought  up  on 
this  system.  Yesterday  afternoon  I  saw  her  in  the 
garden,  with  that  maid  of  hers,  apparently  enjoying  a 
free  fight.  They  looked  like  a  pair  of  goblins,  —  an  old 
and  a  young  one.  I  never  saw  any  thing  like  it." 


180  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

"  What  a  pity !  "  said  Rose ;  "  for  she 's  a  smart, 
bright  little  thing ;  and  it 's  cunning  to  hear  her  talk 
French." 

"  Well,"  said  Mrs.  Ferguson,  straightening  her  back, 
and  sitting  up  with  a  grand  air :  "  I  am  one  of  eight 
children  that  my  mother  nursed  herself  at  her  own 
breast,  and  lived  to  a  good  honorable  old  age  after  it- 
People  called  her  a  handsome  woman  at  sixty  :  she 
could  ride  and  walk  and  dance  with  the  best ;  and 
nobody  kept  up  a  keener  interest  in  reading  or  general 
literature.  Her  conversation  was  sought  by  the  most 
eminent  men  of  the  day  as  something  remarkable. 
She  was  always  with  her  children :  we  always  knew 
we  had  her  to  run  to  at  any  moment ;  and  we  were  the 
first  thing  with  her.  She  lived  a  happy,  loving,  useful 
life  ;  and  her  children  rose  up  and  called  her  blessed." 

"As  we  do  you,  dear  mamma,"  said  Rose,  kissing 
her  :  "  so  don't  be  oratorical,  darling  mammy ;  because 
we  are  all  of  your  mind  here." 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

MRS.  JOHN  SEYMOUR'S  PARTY,  AND  WHAT  CAME 
OF  IT. 

MRS.  JOHN  SEYMOUR'S  party  marked  an  era 
in  the  annals  of  Springdale.  Of  this,  you  may 
be  sure,  my  dear  reader,  when  you  consider  that  it 
was  projected  and  arranged  by  Mrs.  Lillie,  in  strict 
counsel  with  her  friend  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  who  had  lived 
in  Paris,  and  been  to  balls  at  the  Tuileries.  Of  course, 
it  was  a  tip-top  New-York-Paris  party,  with  all  the 
new,  fashionable,  unspeakable  crinkles  and  wrinkles,  all 
the  high,  divine,  spick  and  span  new  ways  of  doing 
things ;  which,  however,  like  the  Eleusinian  mysteries, 
(  being  in  their  very  nature  incommunicable  except  to 
the  elect,  must  be  left  to  the  imagination. 

A  French  artiste,  whom  Mrs.  Follingsbee  patronized 
as  "  my  confectioner,"  came  in  state  to  Springdale,  with 
a  retinue  of  appendages  and  servants  sufficient  for  a 
circus ;  took  formal  possession  of  the  Seymour  mansion, 
and  became,  for  the  time  being,  absolute  dictator,  as 
was  customary  in  the  old  Roman  Republic  in  times 
of  emergency. 

Mr.  Follingsbee  was  forward,  fussy,  and  advisory,  in 

r). 


182  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

his  own  peculiar  free-and-easy  fashion ;  and  Mrs.  Fol- 
lingsbee  was  instructive  and  patronizing  to  the  very 
last  degree.  Lillie  had  bewailed  in  her  sympathizing 
bosom  John's  unaccountable  and  most  singular  moral 
Quixotism  in  regard  to  the  wine  question,  and  been 
comforted  by  her  appreciative  discourse.  Mrs.  Follings- 
bee  had  a  sort  of  indefinite  faith  in  French  phrases  for 
mending  all  the  broken  places  in  life.  A  thing  said 
partly  in  French  became  at  once  in  her  view  elucidated, 
even  though  the  words  meant  no  more  than  the  same 
in  English  ;  so  she  consoled  Lillie  as  follows :  — 

"  Oh,  ma  chdre !  I  understand  perfectly :  your  hus 
band  may  be  '  un  peu  borne]  as  they  say  in  Paris,  but 
still  '  un  homme  tres  respectable]  (Mrs.  Follingsbee  here 
scraped  her  throat  emphatically,  just  as  her  French 
maid  did),  —  a  sublime  example  of  the  virtues ;  and  let 
me  tell  you,  darling,  you  are  very  fortunate  to  get  such 
a  man.  It  is  not  often  that  a  woman  can  get  an  estab 
lishment  like  yours,  and  a  good  man  into  the  bargain ; 
so,  if  the  goodness  is  a  little  ennuyeuse,  one  must  put 
up  with  it.  Then,  again,  people  of  old  established 
standing  may  do  about  what  they  like  socially:  their 
position  is  made.  People  only  say,  '  Well,  that  is  their 
way ;  the  Seymours  will  do  so  and  so.'  Now,  we  have 
to  do  twice  as  much  of  every  thing  to  make  our  posi 
tion,  as  certain  other  people  do.  We  might  flood  our 
place  with  champagne  and  Burgundy,  and  get  all  the 
young  fellows  drunk,  as  we  generally  do ;  and  yet  people 
will  call  our  parties  '  bourgeois]  and  yours  '  recherche] 
if  you  give  them  nothing  but  tea  and  biscuit.  Now, 


MRS.  JOHN  SEYMOUR'S  PARTY.  183 

there's  my  Dick:  he  respects  your  husband;  you  can 
see  he  does.  In  his  odious  slang  way,  he  says  he's 
4  some,'  and  '  a  brick  ; '  and  he 's  a  little  anxious  to  please 
him,  though  he  professes  not  to  care  for  anybody.  Now, 
Dick  has  pretty  sharp  sense,  after  all,  or  he'd  never 
have  been  just  where  he  is." 

Our  friend  John,  during  these  days  preceding  the 
party,  the  party  itself,  and  the  clearing  up  after  it, 
enacted  submissively  that  part  of  (  unconditional  sur 
render!  which  the  master  of  the  house,  if  well  trained, 
generally  acts  on  such  occasions.  He  resembled  the 
prize  ox,  which  is  led  forth  adorned  with  garlands, 
ribbons,  and  docility,  to  grace  a  triumphal  procession. 
He  went  where  he  was  told,  did  as  he  was  bid,  marched 
to  the  right,  marched  to  the  left,  put  on  gloves  and 
cravat,  and  took  them  off,  entirely  submissive  to  the 
word  of  his  little  general ;  and  exhibited,  in  short,  an 
edifying  spectacle  of  that  pleasant  domestic  animal,  a 
tame  husband.  He  had  to  make  atonement  for  being 
a  reformer,  and  for  endeavoring  to  live  like  a  Christian, 
by  conceding  to  his  wife  all  this  latitude  of  indulgence ; 
and  he  meant  to  go  through  it  like  a  man  and  a  phi 
losopher.  To  be  sure,  in  his  eyes,  it  was  all  so  much 
unutterable  bosh  and  nonsense ;  and  bosh  and  nonsense 
for  which  he  was  eventually  to  settle  the  bills :  but  he 
armed  himself  with  the  patient  reflection  that  all  things 
have  their  end  in  time,  —  that  fireworks  and  Chinese 
lanterns,  bands  of  music  and  kid  gloves,  ruff's  and  puffs, 
and  pinkings  and  quillings,  and  all  sorts  of  unspeakable 
eatables  with  French  names,  would  ere  long  float  down 


184  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

the  stream  of  time,  and  leave  their  record  only  in  a 
few  bad  colds  and  days  of  indigestion,  which  also  time 
would  mercifully  cure. 

So  John  steadied  his  soul  with  a  view  of  that  com 
fortable  future,  when  all  this  fuss  should  be  over,  and 
the  coast  cleared  for  something  better.  Moreover, 
John  found  this  good  result  of  his  patience :  that  he 
learned  a  little  something  in  a  Christian  way  by  it. 
Men  of  elevated  principle  and  moral  honesty  often  treat 
themselves  to  such  large  slices  of  contempt  and  indig 
nation,  in  regard  to  the  rogues  of  society,  as  to  forget 
a  common  brotherhood  of  pity.  It  is  sometimes  whole 
some  for  such  men  to  be  obliged  to  tolerate  a  scamp  to 
the  extent  of  exchanging  with  him  the  ordinary  benevo 
lences  of  social  life. 

John,  in  discharging  the  duty  of  a  host  to  Dick  Fol- 
lingsbee,  found  himself,  after  a  while,  looking  on  him 
with  pity,  as  a  poor  creature,  like  the  rich  fool  in  the 
Gospels,  without  faith,  or  love,  or  prayer ;  spending  life 
as  a  moth  does,  —  in  vain  attempts  to  burn  himself  up 
in  the  candle,  and  knowing  nothing  better.  In  fact, 
after  a  while,  the  stiff,  tow-colored  moustache,  smart 
stride,  and  flippant  air  of  this  poor  little  man  struck 
him  somewhere  in  the  region  between  a  smile  and  a 
tear;  and  his  enforced  hospitality  began  to  wear  a 
tincture  of  real  kindness.  There  is  no  less  pathos  in 
moral  than  in  physical  imbecility. 

It  is  an  observable  social  phenomenon  that,  when 
any  family  in  a  community  makes  an  advance  very 
greatly  ahead  of  its  neighbors  in  style  of  living  or 


MRS.  JOHN  SEYMOURS  PARTY.          185 

splendor  of  entertainments,  the  fact  causes  great 
searchings  of  spirit  in  all  the  region  round  about,  and 
abundance  of  talk,  wherein  the  thoughts  of  many  hearts 
are  revealed. 

Springdale  was  a  country  town,  containing  a  choice 
knot  of  the  old,  respectable,  true-blue,  Boston-aristoc 
racy  families.  Two  or  three  of  them  had  winter  houses 
in  Beacon  Street,  and  went  there,  after  Christmas,  to 
enjoy  the  lectures,  concerts,  and  select  gayeties  of  the 
modern  Athens;  others,  like  the  Fergusons  and  Sey 
mours,  were  in  intimate  relationship  with  the  same 
circle. 

Now,  it  is  well  known  that  the  real  old  true-blue, 
Simon-pure,  Boston  family  is  one  whose  claims  to  be 
considered  "  the  thing,"  and  the  only  thing,  are  some 
what  like  the  claim  of  apostolic  succession  in  ancient 
churches.  It  is  easy  to  see  why  certain  affluent,  culti 
vated,  and  eminently  well-conducted  people  should  be 
considered  "the  thing"  in  their  day  and  generation; 
but  why  they  should  be  considered  as  the  "  only  thing  " 
is  the  point  insoluble  to  human  reason,  and  to  be 
received  by  faith  alone ;  also,  why  certain  other  people, 
equally  affluent,  cultivated,  and  well-conducted  are  not 
"the  thing"  is  one  of  the  divine  mysteries,  about 
which  whoso  observes  Boston  society  will  do  well  not 
too  curiously  to  exercise  his  reason. 

These  "  true-blue "  families,  however,  have  claims  to 
respectability ;  which  make  them,  on  the  whole,  quite 
a  venerable  and  pleasurable  feature  of  society  in  our 
young,  topsy-turvy,  American  community.  Some  of 


186  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

them  have  family  records  extending  clearly  back  to  the 
settlement  of  Massachusetts  Bay ;  and  the  family  estate 
is  still  on  grounds  first  cleared  up  by  aboriginal  settlers. 
Being  of  a  Puritan  nobility,  they  have  an  ancestral 
record,  affording  more  legitimate  subject  of  family  self- 
esteem  than  most  other  nobility.  Their  history  runs 
back  to  an  ancestry  of  unworldly  faith  and  prayer  and 
self-denial,  of  incorruptible  public  virtue,  sturdy  resist 
ance  of  evil,  and  pursuit  of  good. 

There  is  also  a  literary  aroma  pervading  their  circles. 
Dim  suggestions  of  "  The  North  American  Review,"  of 
"  The  Dial,"  of  Cambridge,  —  a  sort  of  vague  "  mid- 
fleur"  of  authorship  and  poetry,  —  is  supposed  to  float 
in  the  air  around  them ;  and  it  is  generally  understood 
that  in  their  homes  exist  tastes  and  appreciations  denied 
to  less  favored  regions.  Almost  every  one  of  them  has 
its  great  man,  —  its  father,  grandfather,  cousin,  or  great 
uncle,  who  wrote  a  book,  or  edited  a  review,  or  was  a 
president  of  the  United  States,  or  minister  to  England, 
whose  opinions  are  referred  to  by  the  family  in  any 
discussion,  as  good  Christians  quote  the  Bible. 

It  is  true  that,  in  some  few  instances,  the  pleroma 
of  aristocratic  dignity  undergoes  a  sort  of  acetic  fer 
mentation,  and  comes  out  in  ungenial  qualities.  Now 
and  then,  at  a  public  watering-place,  a  man  or  woman 
appears  no  otherwise  distinguished  than  by  a  remark 
able  talent  for  being  disagreeable  ;  and  it  is  amusing  to 
find,  on  inquiry,  that  this  repulsiveness  of  demeanor 
is  entirely  on  account  of  belonging  to  an  ancient 
family. 


MBS.  JOHN  SEYMOURS  PARTY.  187 

Such  is  the  tendency  of  democracy  to  a  general 
mingling  of  elements,  that  this  frigidity  is  deemed 
necessary  by  these  good  souls  to  prevent  the  common 
alty  from  being  attracted  by  them,  and  sticking  to 
them,  as  straws  and  bits  of  paper  do  to  amber.  But 
more  generally  the  "  true-blue "  old  families  are  simple 
and  urbane  in  their  manners ;  and  their  pretensions  are, 
as  Miss  Edgeworth  says,  presented  rather  intaglio  than 
in  cameo.  Of  course,  they  most  thoroughly  believe  in 
themselves,  but  in  a  bland  and  genial  way.  "  Noblesse 
oblige  "  is  with  them  a  secret  spring  of  gentle  address 
and  social  suavity.  They  prefer  their  own  set  and 
their  own  ways,  and  are  comfortably  sure  that  what 
they  do  not  know  is  not  worth  knowing,  and  what  they 
have  not  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  is  not  worth 
doing;  but  still  they  are  indulgent  of  the  existence 
of  human  nature  outside  of  their  own  circle. 

The  Seymours  and  the  Fergusons  belonged  to  this 
sort  of  people;  and,  of  course,  Mr.  John  Seymour's 
marriage  afforded  them  opportunity  for  some  whole 
some  moral  discipline.  The  Ferguson  girls  were  frank, 
social,  magnanimous  young  women ;  of  that  class,  to 
whom  the  sayin'g  or  doing  of  a  rude  or  unhandsome 
thing  by  any  human  being  was  an  utter  impossibility, 
and  whose  cheeks  would  flush  at  the  mere  idea  of 
asserting  personal  superiority  over  any  one.  Neverthe 
less,  they  trod  the  earth  firmly,  as  girls  who  felt  that 
they  were  born  to  a  certain  position.  Judge  Ferguson 
was  a  gentleman  of  the  old  school,  devoted  to  past 
ideas,  fond  of  the  English  classics,  and  with  small  faith 


188  PINK  AND  WHITE  TYRANNY. 

in  any  literature  later  than  Dr.  Johnson.  He  confessed 
to  a  toleration  for  Scott's  novels,  and  had  been  detected 
by  his  children  both  laughing  and  crying  over  the 
stories  of  Charles  Dickens ;  for  the  amiable  weaknesses 
of  human  nature  still  remain  in  the  best  regulated 
mind.  To  women  and  children,  the  judge  was  benig 
nity  itself,  imitating  the  Grand  Monarque,  who  bowed 
even  to  a  chambermaid.  He  believed  in  good,  orderly, 
respectable,  old  ways  and  entertainments,  and  had  a 
quiet  horror  of  all  that  is  loud  or  noisy  or  pretentious ; 
which  sometimes  made  his  social  duties  a  trial  to 
him,  as  was  the  case  in  regard  to  the  Seymour  party. 

The  arrangements  of  the  party,  including  the  prep 
arations  for  an  extensive  illumination  of  the  grounds, 
and  fireworks,  were  on  so  unusual  a  scale  as  to  rouse 
the  whole  community  of  Springdale  to  a  fever  of 
excitement ;  of  course,  the  Wilcoxes  and  the  Lennoxes 
were  astonished  and  disgusted.  When  had  it  been 
known  that  any  of  their  set  had  done  any  thing  of 
the  kind  ?  How  horribly  out  of  taste !  Just  the  result 
of  John  Seymour's  marrying  into  that  class  of  society ! 
Mrs.  Lennox  was  of  opinion  that  she  ought  not  to 
go.  She  was  of  the  determined  and  spicy  order  of 
human  beings,  and  often,  like  a  certain  French  countess, 
felt  disposed  to  thank  Heaven  that  she  generally  suc 
ceeded  in  being  rude  when  the  occasion  required.  Mrs. 
Lennox  regarded  "snubbing"  in  the  light  of  a  moral 
duty  devolving  on  people  of  condition,  when  the  foun 
dations  of  things  were  in  danger  of  being  removed  by 
the  inroads  of  the  vulgar  commonalty.  On  the  present 


MBS.  JOHN  SEYMOURS  PARTY.  189 

occasion,  Mrs.  Lennox  was  of  opinion  that  quiet,  respect 
able  people,  of  good  family,  ought  to  ignore  this  kind  of 
proceeding,  and  not  think  of  encouraging  such  things 
by  their  presence. 

Mrs.  Wilcox  generally  shaped  her  course  by  Mrs. 
Lennox:  still  she  had  promised  Letitia  Ferguson  to 
be  gracious  to  the  Seymours  in  their  exigency,  and 
to  call  on  the  Follingsbees ;  so  there  was  a  confu 
sion  all  round.  The  young  people  of  both  families 
declared  that  they  were  going,  just  to  see  the  fun. 
Bob  Lennox,  with  the  usual  vivacity  of  Young  Amer 
ica,  said  he  didn't  "  care  a  hang  who  set  a  ball  rolling, 
if  only  something  was  kept  stirring."  The  subject  was 
discussed  when  Mrs.  Lennox  and  Mrs.  Wilcox  were 
making  a  morning  call  upon  the  Fergusons. 

"  For  my  part,"  said  Mrs.  Lennox,  "  I  'm  principled  on 
this  subject.  Those  Follingsbees  are  not  proper  people. 
They  are  of  just  that  vulgar,  pushing  class,  against 
which  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  set  my  face  like  a  flint ;  and 
I'm  astonished  that  a  man  like  John  Seymour  should 
go  into  relations  with  them.  You  see  it  puts  all  his 
friends  in  a  most  embarrassing  position." 

"Dear  Mrs.  Lennox,"  said  Rose  Ferguson,  "indeed, 
it  is  not  Mr.  Seymour's  fault.  These  persons  are  invited 
by  his  wife." 

"Well,  what  business  has  he  to  allow  his  wife  to 
invite  them?  A  man  should  be  master  in  his  own 
house." 

"But,  my  dear  Mrs.  Lennox,"  said  Mrs.  Ferguson, 
"  such  a  pretty  young  creature,  and  just  married !  of 


190  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

course  it  would  be  unhandsome  not  to  allow  her  to 
have  her  friends." 

"  Certainly,"  said  Judge  Ferguson,  "  a  gentleman 
cannot  be  rude  to  his  wife's  invited  guests;  for  my 
part,  I  think  Seymour  is  putting  the  best  face  he  can 
on  it ;  and  we  must  all  do  what  we  can  to  help  him. 
We  shall  all  attend  the  Seymour  party." 

"Well,"  said  Mrs.  Wilcox,  "I  think  we  shall  go. 
To  be  sure,  it  is  not  what  I  should  like  to  do.  I  don't 
approve  of  these  Follingsbees.  Mr.  Wilcox  was  saying, 
this  morning,  that  his  money  was  made  by  frauds 
on  the  government,  which  ought  to  have  put  him  in 
the  State  Prison." 

"  Now,  I  say,"  said  Mrs.  Lennox,  "  such  people  ought 
to  be  put  down  socially :  I  have  no  patience  with 
their  airs.  And  that  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  I  have  heard 
that  she  was  a  milliner,  or  shop-girl,  or  some  such 
thing;  and  to  see  the  airs  she  gives  herself!  One 
would  think  it  was  the  Empress  Eugenie  herself,  come 
to  queen  it  over  us  in  America.  I  can't  help  thinking 
we  ought  to  take  a  stand.  I  really  do." 

"But,  dear  Mrs.  Lennox,  we  are  not  obliged  to 
cultivate  further  relations  with  people,  simply  from 
exchanging  ordinary  civilities  with  them  on  one  even 
ing,"  said  Judge  Ferguson. 

"  But,  my  dear  sir,  these  pushing,  vulgar,  rich  people 
take  advantage  of  every  opening.  Give  them  an  inch, 
and  they  will  take  an  ell,"  said  Mrs.  Lennox.  "  Now,  if  I 
go,  they  will  be  claiming  acquaintance  with  me  in  New 
port  next  summer.  Well,  I  shall  cut  them,  —  dead." 


MRS.  JOHN  SEYMOUR'S  PARTY.  191 

"Trust  you  for  that,"  said  Miss  Letitia,  laughing; 
"  indeed,  Mrs.  Lennox,  I  think  you  may  go  wherever 
you  please  with  perfect  safety.  People  will  never  sad 
dle  themselves  on  you  longer  than  you  want  them ;  so 
you  might  as  well  go  to  the  party  with  the  rest  of  us." 

"  And  besides,  you  know,"  said  Mrs.  Wilcox,  "  all 
our  young  people  will  go,  whether  we  go  or  not.  Your 
Tom  was  at  my  house  yesterday ;  and  he  is  going  with 
my  girls :  they  are  all  just  as  wild  about  it  as  they 
can  be,  and  say  that  it  is  the  greatest  fun  that  has  been 
heard  of  this  summer." 

In  fact,  there  was  not  a  man,  woman,  or  child,  in  a 
circle  of  fifteen  miles  round,  who  could  show  shade  or 
color  of  an  invitation,  who  was  not  out  in  full  dress  at 
Mrs.  John  Seymour's  party.  People  in  a  city  may  pick 
and  choose  their  entertainments,  and  she  who  gives  a 
party  there  may  reckon  on  a  falling  off  of  about  one- 
third,  for  various  other  attractions  ;  but  in  the  country, 
where  there  is  nothing  else  stirring,  one  may  be  sure 
that  not  one  person  able  to  stand  on  his  feet  will  be 
missing.  A  party  in  a  good  old  sleepy,  respectable 
country  place  is  a  godsend.  It  is  equal  to  an  earth 
quake,  for  suggesting  materials  of  conversation ;  and  in 
so  many  ways  does  it  awaken  and  vivify  the  community, 
that  one  may  doubt  whether,  after  all,  it  is  not  a  moral 
benefaction,  and  the  giver  of  it  one  to  be  ranked  in  the 
noble  army  of  martyrs. 

Everybody  went.  Even  Mrs.  Lennox,  when  she  had 
sufficiently  swallowed  her  moral  principles,  sent  in  all 
haste  to  New  York  for  an  elegant  spick  and  span  new 


192  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

dress  from  Madame  de  Tullegig's,  expressly  for  the 
occasion.  Was  she  to  be  outshone  by  unprincipled 
upstarts  ?  Perish  the  thought !  It  was  treason  to  the 
cause  of  virtue,  and  the  standing  order  of  society.  Of 
course,  the  best  thing  to  be  done  is  to  put  certain  peo 
ple  down,  if  you  can ;  but,  if  you  cannot  do  that,  the 
next  best  thing  is  to  outshine  them  in  their  own  way. 
It  may  be  very  naughty  for  them  to  be  so  dressy 
and  extravagant,  and  very  absurd,  improper,  immoral, 
unnecessary,  and  in  bad  taste ;  but  still,  if  you  cannot 
help  it,  you  may  as  well  try  to  do  the  same,  and  do  a 
little  more  of  it.  Mrs.  Lennox  was  in  a  feverish  state 
till  all  her  trappings  came  from  New  York.  The  bill 
was  something  stunning;  but,  then,  it  was  voted  by  the 
young  people  that  she  had  never  looked  so  splendidly 
in  her  life  ;  and  she  comforted  herself  with  marking  out 
a  certain  sublime  distance  and  reserve  of  manner  to  be 
observed  towards  Mrs.  Seymour  and  the  Follingsbees. 

The  young  people,  however,  came  home  delighted. 
Tom,  aged  twenty-two,  instructed  his  mother  that  Fol- 
lingsbee  was  a  brick,  and  a  real  jolly  fellow;  and  he 
had  accepted  an  invitation  to  go  on  a  yachting  cruise 
with  him  the  next  month.  Jane  Lennox,  moreover, 
began  besetting  her  mother  to  have  certain  details  in 
their  house  rearranged,  with  an  eye  to  the  Seymour 
glorification. 

"  Now,  Jane  dear,  that 's  just  the  result  of  allowing 
you  to  visit  in  this  flash,  vulgar  genteel  ]  society,"  said 
the  troubled  mamma. 

"  Bless  your  heart,  mamma,  the  world  moves  on,  you 


MBS.  JOHN  SEYMOUR'S  PARTY.  193 

know ;  and  we  must  move  with  it  a  little,  or  be  left 
behind.  For  my  part,  I  'm  perfectly  ashamed  of  the 
way  we  let  things  go  at  our  house.  It  really  is  not 
respectable.  Now,  I  like  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  for  my  part : 
she 's  clever  and  amusing.  It  was  fun  to  hear  all  about 
the  balls  at  the  Tuileries,  and  the  opera  and  things  in 
Paris.  Mamma,  when  are  we  going  to  Paris  ?  " 

"  Oh !  I  don't  know,  my  dear ;  you  must  ask  your 
father.  He  is  very  unwilling  to  go  abroad." 

"  Papa  is  so  slow  and  conservative  in  his  notions ! " 
said  the  young  lady.  "For  my  part,  I  cannot  see 
what  is  the  use  of  all  this  talk  about  the  Follingsbees. 
He  is  good-natured  and  funny ;  and,  I  am  sure,  I  think 
she 's  a  splendid  woman :  and,  by  the  way,  she  gave  me 
the  address  of  lots  of  places  in  New  York  where  we 
can  get  French  things.  Did  you  notice  her  lace  ?  It 
is  superb;  and  she  told  me  where  lace  just  like  it  could 
be  bought  one-third  less  than  they  sell  at  Stewart's." 

Thus  we  see  how  the  starting-out  of  an  old,  respect 
able  family  in  any  new  ebullition  of  fancy  and  fashion 
is  like  a  dandelion  going  to  seed.  You  have  not  only 
the  airy,  fairy  globe ;  but  every  feathery  particle  thereof 
bears  a  germ  which  will  cause  similar  feather  bubbles 
all  over  the  country ;  and  thus  old,  respectable  grass- 
plots  become,  in  time,  half  dandelion.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that,  in  all  questions  of  life  and  fashion,  "  the 
world  and  tke  flesh,"  to  say  nothing  of  the  third  part 
ner  of  that  ancient  firm,  have  us  at  decided  advantage. 
It  is  easy  to  see  the  flash  of  jewelry,  the  dazzle  of  color, 
the  rush  and  glitter  of  equipage,  and  to  be  dizzied  by 

13 


194  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

the  babble  and  gayety  of  fashionable  life ;  while  it  is 
not  easy  to  see  justice,  patience,  temperance,  self-denial. 
These  are  things  belonging  to  the  invisible  and  the  eter 
nal,  and  to  be  seen  with  other  eyes  than  those  of  the 
body. 

Then,  again,  there  is  no  one  thing  in  all  the  items 
which  go  to  make  up  fashionable  extravagance,  which, 
taken  separately  and  by  itself,  is  not  in  some  point  of 
view  a  good  or  pretty  or  desirable  thing ;  and  so,  when 
ever  the  forces  of  invisible  morality  begin  an  encounter 
with  the  troops  of  fashion  and  folly,  the  world  and  the 
flesh,  as  we  have  just  said,  generally  have  the  best 
of  it. 

It  may  be  very  shocking  and  dreadful  to  get  money 
by  cheating  and  lying ;  but  when  the  money  thus  got 
is  put  into  the  forms  of  yachts,  operas,  pictures,  statues, 
and  splendid  entertainments,  of  which  you  are  freely 
offered  a  share  if  you  will  only  cultivate  the  acquaint 
ance  of  a  sharper,  will  you  not  then  begin  to  say, 
"  Everybody  is  going,  why  not  I  ?  As  to  countenanc 
ing  Dives,  why  he  is  countenanced ;  and  my  holding  out 
does  no  good.  What  is  the  use  of  my  sitting  in  my 
corner  and  sulking  ?  Nobody  minds  me."  Thus  Dives 
gains  one  after  another  to  follow  his  chariot,  and  make 
up  his  court. 

Our  friend  John,  simply  by  being  a  loving,  indulgent 
husband,  had  come  into  the  position,  in  sgme  measure, 
of  demoralizing  the  public  conscience,  of  bringing  in 
luxury  and  extravagance,  and  countenancing  people 
who  really  ought  not  to  be  countenanced.  He  had  a 


MRS.  JOHN  SEYMOUR'S  PARTY.  195 

sort  of  uneasy  perception  of  this  fact ;  yet,  at  each  par 
ticular  step,  he  seemed  to  himself  to  be  doing  no  more 
than  was  right  or  reasonable.  It  was  a  fact  that, 
through  all  Springdale,  people  were  beginning  to  be 
uneasy  and  uncomfortable  in  houses  that  used  to  seem 
to  them  nice  enough,  and  ashamed  of  a  style  of  dress 
and  entertainment  and  living  that  used  to  content  them 
perfectly,  simply  because  of  the  changes  of  style  and 
living  in  the  John-Seymour  mansion. 

Of  old,  the  Seymour  family  had  always  been  a 
bulwark  on  the  side  of  a  temperate  self-restraint,  and 
reticence  in  worldly  indulgence  ;  of  a  kind  that  parents 
find  most  useful  to  strengthen  their  hands  when  children 
are  urging  them  on  to  expenses  beyond  their  means : 
for  they  could  say,  "  The  Seymours  are  richer  than  we 
are,  and  you  see  they  don't  change  their  carpets,  nor  get 
new  sofas,  nor  give  extravagant  parties  ;  and  they  give 
simple,  reasonable,  quiet  entertainments,  and  do  not  go 
into,  any  modern  follies."  So  the  Seymours  kept  up  the 
Fergusons,  and  the  Fergusons  the  Seymours ;  and  the 
Wilcoxes  and  the  Lennoxes  encouraged  each  other  in 
a  style  of  quiet,  reasonable  living,  saving  money  for 
charity,  and  time  for  reading  and  self-cultivation,  and 
by  moderation  and  simplicity  keeping  up  the  courage 
of  less  wealthy  neighbors  to  hold  their  own  with 
them. 

The  John-Seymour  party,  therefore,  was  like  the 
bursting  of  a  great  dam,  which  floods  a  whole  region. 
There  was  not  a  family  who  had  not  some  trouble  with 
the  inundation,  even  where,  like  Rose  and  Letitia 


196  PINK  AND   WHITE    TYRANNY. 

Ferguson,  they  swept  it  out  merrily,  and  thought  no 
more  of  it. 

"  It  was  all  very  pretty  and  pleasant,  and  I  'm  glad  it 
went  off  so  well,"  said  Rose  Ferguson  the  next  day ; 
"  but  I  have  not  the  smallest  desire  to  repeat  any  thing 
of  the  kind.  We  who  live  in  the  country,  and  have 
such  a  world  of  beautiful  things  around  us  every  day, 
and  so  many  charming  engagements  in  riding,- walk 
ing,  and.  rambling,  and  so  much  to  do,  cannot  afford  to 
go  into  this  sort  of  thing:  we  really  have  not  time 
for  it" 

"  That  pretty  creature,"  said  Mrs.  Ferguson,  speaking 
of  Lillie,  "  is  really  a  charming  object.  I  hope  she  will 
settle  down  now  to  domestic  life.  She  will  soon  find 
better  things  to  care  for,  I  trust :  a  baby  would  be  her 
best  teacher.  I  am  sure  I  hope  she  will  have  one." 

"  A  baby  is  mamma's  infallible  recipe  for  strengthen 
ing  the  character,"  said  Rose,  laughing. 

"Well,  as  the  saying  is,  they  bring  love  with 
them,"  said  Mrs.  Ferguson ;  "  and  love  always  brings 
wisdom." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
AFTER    TEf,    BATTLE. 

"  TT  7ELL,  Grace,  the  Follingsbees  are  gone  at  last, 
»  •  I  am  thankful  to  say,"  said  John,  as  he 
stretched  himself  out  on  the  sofa  in  Grace's  parlor  with 
a  sigh  of  relief.  "  If  ever  I  am  caught  in  such  a  scrape 
again,  I  shall  know  it." 

"  Yes,  it  is  all  well  over,"  said  Grace. 

"  Over !  I  wish  you  would  look  at  the  bills.  Why, 
Gracie !  I  had  not  the  least  idea,  when  I  gave  Lillie 
leave  to  get  what  she  chose,  what  it  would  come  to, 
with  those  people  at  her  elbow,  to  put  things  into  her 
head.  I  could  not  interfere,  you  know,  after  the  thing 
was  started ;  and  I  thought  I  would  not  spoil  Lillie's 
pleasure,  especially  as  I  had  to  stand  firm  in  not  allow 
ing  wine.  It  was  well  I  did ;  for  if  wine  had  been 
given,  and  taken  with  the  reckless  freedom  that  all  the 
rest  was,  it  might  have  ended  in  a  general  riot." 

"  As  some  of  the  great  fashionable  parties  do,  where 
young  women  get  merry  with  champagne,  and  young 
men  get  drunk,"  said  Grace. 

"  Well,"  said  John,  "  I  don't  exactly  like  the  whole 


198  PINK  AND  WHITE  TYRANNY. 

, 
turn  of  the  way  things  have  been  going  at  our  house 

lately.  I  don't  like  the  influence  of  it  on  others.  It  is 
not  in  the  line  of  the  life  I  want  to  lead,  and  that  we 
have  all  been  trying  to  lead." 

"  Well,"  said  Gracie,  "  things  will  be  settled  now 
quietly,  I  hope." 

"I  say,"  said  John,  "could  not  we  start  our  little 
reading  sociables,  that  were  so  pleasant  last  year  ?  You 
know  we  want  to  keep  some  little  pleasant  thing  going, 
and  draw  Lillie  in  with  us.  *  When  a  girl  has  been  used 
to  lively  society,  she  can't  come  down  to  mere  nothing; 
and  I  am  afraid  she  will  be  wanting  to  rush  off*  to  New 
York,  and  visit  the  Follingsbees." 

"  Well,"  said  Grace,  "  Letitia  and  Rose  were  speaking 
the  other  day  of  that,  and  wanting  to  begin.  You 
know  we  were  to  read  Froude  together,'  as  soon  as  the, 
evenings  got  a  little  longer." 

"  Oh,  yes  !  that  will  be  capital,"  said  John. 

"  Do  you  think  Lillie  will  be  interested  in  Froude  ?  " 
asked  Grace. 

"  I  really  can't  say,"  said  John,  with  some  doubting 
of  heart ;  "  perhaps  it  would  be  well  to  begin  with 
something  a  little  lighter  at  first." 

"  Any  thing  you  please,  John.     What  shall  it  be  ?  " 

"  But  I  don't  want  to  hold  you  all  back  on  my  account," 
said  John. 

"Well,  then  again,  John,  there's  our  old  study-club. 
The  Fergusons  and  Mr.  Mathews  were  talking  it  over 
the  other  night,  and  wondering  when  you  would  be 
ready  to  join  us.  We  were  going  to  take  up  Lecky's 


AFTER   THE  BATTLE.  199 

'  History  of  Morals,'  and  have  our  sessions  Tuesday 
evenings,  —  one  Tuesday  at  their  house,  and  the  other 
at  mine,  you  know." 

"  I  should  enjoy  that,  of  all  things,"  said  John ;  "but 
I  know  it  is  of  no  use  to  ask  Lillie :  it  would  only  be 
the  most  dreadful  bore  to  her." 

"And  you  couldn't  come  without  her,  of  course," 
said  Grace. 

"  Of  course  not ;  that  would  be  too  cruel,  to  leave 
the  poor  little  thing  at  home  alone." 

"Lillie  strikes  me  as  being  naturally  clever,"  said 
Grace ;  "  if  she  only  would  bring  her  mind  to  enter 
into  your  tastes  a  little,  I  'm  sure  you  would  find  her 
capable." 

"But,  Gracie,  you've  no  conception  how  very  differ 
ent  her  sphere  of  thought  is,  how  entirely  out  of  the 
line  of  our  ways  of  thinking.  I  '11  tell  you,"  said  John, 
"  don't  wait  for  me.  You  have  your  Tuesdays,  and  go 
on  with  your  Lecky ;  and  I  will  keep  a  copy  at  home, 
and  read  up  with  you.  And  I  will  bring  Lillie  in  the 
evening,  after  the  reading  is  over ;  and  we  will  have  a 
little  music  and  lively  talk,  and  a  dance  or  charade,  you 
know :  then  perhaps  her  mind  will  wake  up  by  degrees." 

SCENE. — After  tea  in  the  Seymour  parlor.     John  at  a  table,  reading. 
Lillie  in  a  corner ,  embroidering. 

Lillie.  "  Look  here,  John,  I  want  to  ask  you  some 
thing." 

John,  —  putting  down  his  book,  and  crossing  to  her, 
"Well,  dear?" 


200  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYEANNY. 

Lillie.  "  There,  would  you  make  a  green  leaf  there, 
or  a  brown  one  ?  " 

John,  —  endeavoring  to  look  wise,  "Well,  a  brown 
one." 

Lillie.  "That's  just  like  you,  John  ;  now,  don't  you 
see  that  a  brown  one  would  just  spoil  the  effect  ?  " 

"Oh!  would  it?"  said  John,  innocently.  "Well, 
what  did  you  ask  me  for  ?  " 

"  Why,  you  tiresome  creature  !  I  wanted  you  to  say 
something.  What  are  you  sitting  moping  over  a  book 
for  ?  You  don't  entertain  me  a  bit." 

"  Dear  Lillie,  I  have  been  talking  about  every  thing 
I  could  think  of,"  said  John,  apologetically. 

"  Well,  I  want  you  to  keep  on  talking,  and  put  up 
that  great  heavy  book.  What  is  it,  any  way  ?  " 

" Lecky's .' History  of  Morals,'"  said  John. 

"  How  dreadful !  do  you  really  mean  to  read  it  ?  " 

"  Certainly ;  we  are  all  reading  it." 

"Who  all?" 

"  Why,  Gracie,  and  Letitia  and  Rose  Ferguson." 

"Rose  Ferguson?  I  don't  believe  it.  Why,  Rose 
isn't  twenty  yet !  She  cannot  care  about  such  stuff." 

"  She  does  care,  and  enjoys  it  too,"  said  John,  eagerly. 

"It  is  a  pity,  then,  you  didn't  get  her  for  a  wife 
instead  of  me,"  said  Lillie,  in  a  tone  of  pique. 

Now,  this  sort  of  thing  does  well  enough  occasionally, 
said  by  a  pretty  woman,  perfectly  sure  of  her  ground, 
in  the  early  days  of  the  honey-moon ;  but  for  steady 
domestic  diet  is  not  to  be  recommended.  Husbands  get 
tired  of  swearing  allegiance  over  and  over ;  and  John 


AFTER   THE  BATTLE.  201 

returned  to  his  book  quietly,  without  reply.    He  did  not  • 
like  the  suggestion  ;  and  he  thought  that  it  was  in  very 
poor  taste.    Lillie  embroidered  in  silence  a  few  minutes, 
and  then  threw  down  her  work  pettishly. 

"  How  close  this  room  is ! " 

John  read  on. 

"John,  do  open  the  door! " 

John  rose,  opened  the  door,  and  returned  to  his  book. 

"  Now,  there's  that  draft  from  the  hall- window.  John, 
you  '11  have  to  shut  the  door." 

John  shut  it,  and  read  on. 

"  Oh,  dear  me !  "  said  Lillie,  throwing  herself  down 
with  a  portentous  yawn.  "  I  do  think  this  is  dread 
ful!" 

"  What  is  dreadful  ?  "  said  John,  looking  up. 

"It  is  dreadful  to  be  (buried  alive  here  in  this  gloomy 
town  of  Springdale,  where  there  is  nothing  to  see,  and 
nowhere  to  go,  and  nothing  going  on." 

"  We  have  always  nattered  ourselves  that  Springdale 
was  a  most  attractive  place,"  said  John.  "  I  don't  know 
of  any  place  where  there  are  more  beautiful  walks  and 
rambles." 

"But  I  detest  walking  in  the  country.  What  is 
there  to  see?  And  you  get  your  shoes  muddy,  and 
burrs  on  your  clothes,  and  don't  meet  "a  creature !  I 
got  so  tired  the  other  day  when  Grace  and  Rose  Fer 
guson  would  drag  me  oif  to  what  they  call  '  the  glen.' 
They  kept  oh-ing  and  ah-ing  and  exclaiming  to  each 
other  about  some  stupid  thing  every  step  of  the  way, — • 
old  pokey  nutgalls,  bare  twigs  of  trees,  and  red  and  yel- 


202 


PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 


low  leaves,  and  ferns !  I  do  wish  you  could  have  seen 
the  armful  of  trash  that  those  two  girls  carried  into 
their  respective  houses.  I  would  not  have  such  stuff  in 
mine  for  any  thing.  I  am  tired  of  all  this  talk  about 
Nature.  I  am  free  to  confess  that  I  don't  like  Nature, 
and  do  like  art ;  and  I  wish  we  only  lived  in  New 
York,  where  there  is  something  to  amuse  one." 


"  But  I  detest  walking  in  the  country." 

"Well,  Lillie  dear,  I  am  sorry;   but  we  don't  live 
in  New  York,  and  are  not  likely  to,"  said  John. 

"  Why  can't  we  ?    Mrs.  Follingsbee  said  that  a  man 


AFTER   THE  BATTLE.  203 

in  your  profession,  and  with  your  talents,  could  com 
mand  a  fortune  in  New  York." 

"  If  it  would  give  me  the  mines  of  Golconda,  I  would 
not  go  there,"  said  John. 

"  How  stupid  of  you !    You  know  you  would,  though." 

"  No,  Lillie ;  I  would  not  leave  Springdale  for  any 
money." 

"  That  is  because  you  think  of  nobody  but  yourself," 
said  Lillie.  "  Men  are  always  selfish." 

"  On  the  contrary,  it  is  because  I  have  so  many  here 
depending  on  me,  of  whom  I  am  bound  to  think  more 
than  myself,"  said  John. 

"That  dreadful  mission-work  of  yours,  I  suppose," 
said  Lillie ;  "  that  always  stands  in  the  way  of  having 
a  good  time." 

"  Lillie,"  said  John,  shutting  his  book,  and  looking  at 
her,  "  what  is  your  ideal  of  a  good  time  ?  " 

"  Why,  having  something  amusing  going  on  all  the 
time,  —  something  bright  and  lively,  to  keep  one  in 
good  spirits,"  said  Lillie. 

"  I  thought  that  you  would  have  enough  of  that  with 
your  party  and  all,"  said  John. 

"  Well,  now  it 's  all  over,  and  duller  than  ever,"  said 
Lillie.  "  I  think  a  little  spirt  of  gayety  makes  it  seem 
duller  by  contrast." 

"  Yet,  Lillie,"  said  John,  "  you  see  there  are  women, 
who  live  right  here  in  Springdale,  who  are  all  the  time 
busy,  interested,  and  happy,  with  only  such  sources  of 
enjoyment  as  are  to  be  found  here.  Their  time  does 
not  hang  heavy  on  their  hands ;  in  fact,  it  is  too  short 
for  all  they  wish  to  do." 


204  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

"  They  are  different  from  me,"  said  Lillie. 

"  Then,  since  you  must  live  here,"  said  John,  "  could 
you  not  learn  to  be  like  them  ?  could  you  not  acquire 
some  of  these  tastes  that  make  simple  country  life 
agreeable  ?  " 

"  No,  I  can't ;  I  never  could,"  said  Lillie,  pettishly. 

"  Then,"  said  John,  "  I  don't  see  that  anybody  can 
help  your  being  unhappy."  And,  opening  his  book,  he 
sat  down,  and  began  to  read. 

Lillie  pouted  awhile,  and  then  drew  from  under  the 
sofa-pillow  a  copy  of  "  Indiana ; "  and,  establishing  her 
feet  on  the  fender,  she  began  to  read. 

Lillie  had  acquired  at  school  the  doubtful  talent  of 
reading  French  with  facility,  and  was  soon  deep  in  the 
fascinating  pages,  whose  theme  is  the  usual  one  of 
French  novels,  —  a  young  wife,  tired  of  domestic  mo 
notony,  with  an  unappreciative  husband,  solacing  her 
self  with  the  devotion  of  a  lover.  Lillie  felt  a  sort  of 
pique  with  her  husband.  .  He  was  evidently  unappre 
ciative  :  he  was  thinking  of  all  sorts  of  things  more 
than  of  her,  and  growing  stupid,  as  husbands  in  French 
romances  generally  do.  She  thought  of  her  handsome 
Cousin  Harry,  the  only  man  that  she  ever  came  any 
where  near  being  in  love  with;  and  the  image  of  his 
dark,  handsome  eyes  and  glossy  curls  gave  a  sort  of 
piquancy  to  the  story. 

John  got  deeply  interested  in  his  book  ;  and,  looking 
up  from  time  to  time,  was  relieved  to  find  that  Lillie 
had  something  to  employ  her. 

"  I  may  as  well  make  a  beginning,"  he  said  to  him- 


AFTER   THE  BATTLE.  205 

self.     "  I  must  have  my  time  for  reading ;  and  she  must 
learn  to  amuse  herself." 

After  a  while,  however,  he  peeped  over  her  shoulder. 

"  Why,  darling ! "  he  said,  "  where  did  you  get  that  ?  " 

"  It  is  Mrs.  Follingsbee's,"  said  Lillie. 

"  Dear,  it  is  a  bad  book,"  said  John.     "  Don't  read  it." 

"  It  amuses  me,  and  helps  pass  away  time,"  said 
Lillie ;  "  and  I  don't  think  it  is  bad :  it  is  beautiful. 
Besides,  you  read  what  amuses  you ;  and  it  is  a  pity  if 
I  can't  read  what  amuses  me." 

"  I  am  glad  to  see  you  like  to  read  French,"  con 
tinued  John ;  "  and  I  can  get  you  some  delightful 
French  stories,  which  are  not  only  pretty  and  witty, 
but  have  nothing  in  them  that  tend  to  pull  down 
one's  moral  principles.  Edmond  About's  l  Manages  de 
Paris '  and  « Tolla '  are  charming  French  things ;  and, 
as  he  says,  they  might  be  read  aloud  by  a  man  between 
his  mother  and  his  sister,  without  a  shade  of  offence." 

"Thank  you,  sir,"  said  Mrs.  Lillie.  "You  had 
better  go  to  Rose  Ferguson,  and  get  her  to  give  you  a 
list  of  the  kinds  of  books  she  prefers." 

"  Lillie !  "  said  John,  severely,  "  your  remarks  about 
Rose  are  in  bad  taste.  I  must  beg  you  to  discontinue 
them.  There  are  subjects  that  never  ought  to  be 
jested  about." 

"  Thank  you,  sir,  for  your  moral  lessons,"  said  Lillie, 
turning  her  back  on  him  defiantly,  putting  her  feet  on 
the  fender,  and  going  on  with  her  reading. 

John  seated  himself,  and  went  on  with  his  book  in 
silence. 


206  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Now,  this  mode  of  passing  a  domestic  evening  is 
certainly  not  agreeable  to  either  party;  but  we  sus 
tain  the  thesis  that  in  this  sort  of  interior  warfare  the 
woman  has  generally  the  best  of  it.  When  it  comes  to 
the  science  of  annoyance,  commend  us  to  the  lovely  sex  ! 
Their  methods  have  a  finesse,  a  suppleness,  a  universal 
adaptability,  that  does  them  infinite  credit ;  and  man, 
with  all  his  strength,  and  all  his  majesty,  and  his  com 
manding  talent,  is  about  as  well  off  as  a  buffalo  or  a 
bison  against  a  tiny,  rainbow- winged  gnat  or  mosquito, 
who  bites,  sings,  and  stings  everywhere  at  once,  with 
an  infinite  grace  and  facility. 

A  woman  without  magnanimity,  without  generosity, 
who  has  no  love,  and  whom  a  man  loves,  is  a  terrible 
antagonist.  To  give  up  or  to  fight  often  seems  equally 
impossible. 

How  is  a  man  going  to  make  a  woman  have  a  good 
time,  who  is  determined  not  to  have  it?  Lillie  had 
sense  enough  to  see,  that,  if  she  settled  down  into  en 
joyment  of  the  little  agreeablenesses  and  domesticities 
of  the  winter  society  in  Springdale,  she  should  lose  her 
battle,  and  John  would  keep  her  there  for  life.  The 
only  way  was  to  keep  him  as  uncomfortable  as  possible 
without  really  breaking  her  power  over  him. 

In  the  long-run,  in  these  encounters  of  will,  the 
woman  has  every  advantage.  The  constant  dropping 
that  wears  away  the  stone  has  passed  into  a  proverb. 

Lillie  meant  to  go  to  New  York,  and  have  a  long 
campaign  at  the  Follingsbees.  The  thing  had  been 
all  promised  and  arranged  between  them ;  and  it  was 


AFTER   TEE  BATTLE.  207 

necessary  that  she  should  appear  sufficiently  miserable, 
and  that  John  should  be  made  sufficiently  uncomfort 
able,  to  consent  with  effusion,  at  last,  when  her  inten 
tions  were  announced. 

These  purposes  were  not  distinctly  stated  to  herself ; 
for,  as  we  have  before  intimated,  uncultivated  natures, 
who  have  never  thought  for  a  serious  moment  on  self- 
education,  or  the  way  their  character  is  forming,  act 
purely  from  a  sort  of  instinct,  and  do  not  even  in  their 
own  minds  fairly  and  squarely  face  their  own  motives 
and  purposes  ;  if  they  only  did,  their  good  angel  would 
wear  a  less  dejected  look  than  he  generally  must. 

Lillie  had  power  enough,  in  that  small  circle,  to  stop 
and  interrupt  almost  all  its  comfortable  literary  culture. 
The  reading  of  Froude  was  given  up.  John  could  not 
go  to  the  study  club ;  and,  after  an  evening  or  two  of 
trying  to  read  up  at  home,  he  used  to  stay  an  hour  later 
at  his  office.  Lillie  would  go  with  him  on  Tuesday  even 
ing,  after  the  readings  were  over ;  and  then  it  was  un 
derstood  that  all  parties  were  to  devote  themselves  to 
making  the  evening  pass  agreeable  to  her.  She  was  to 
be  put  forward,  kept  in  the  foreground,  and  every  thing 
arranged  to  make  her  appear  the  queen  of  the  fete. 
They  had  tableaux,  where  Rose  made  Lillie  into  mar 
vellous  pictures,  which  all  admired  and  praised.  They 
had  little  dances,  which  Lillie  thought  rather  stupid  and 
humdrum,  because  they  were  not  en  grande  toilette; 
yet  Lillie  always  made  a  great  merit  of  putting  up  with 
her  life  at  Springdale.  A  pleasant  English  writer  has 
a  lively  paper  on  the  advantages  of  being  a  "  cantanker- 


208  PINK  AND   WHITE   TTEANNT. 

ous  fool,"  in  which  he  goes  to  show  that  men  or  women 
of  inferior  moral  parts,  little  self-control,  and  great 
selfishness,  often  acquire  an  absolute  dominion  over 
the  circle  in  which  they  move,  merely  by  the  exercise 
of  these  traits.  Every  one  being  anxious  to  please  and 
pacify  them,  and  keep  the  peace  with  them,  there  is  a 
constant  succession  of  anxious  compliances  and  com 
promises  going  on  around  them ;  by  all  of  which  they 
are  benefited  in  getting  their  own  will  and  way. 

The  one  person  who  will  not  give  up,  and  cannot  be 
expected  to  be  considerate  or  accommodating,  comeo  at 
last  to  rule  the  whole  circle.  He  is  counted  on  like  the 
fixed  facts  of  nature ;  everybody  else  must  turn  out  for 
him.  So  Lillie  reigned  in  Springdale.  In  every  little 
social  gathering  where  she  appeared,  the  one  uneasy 
question  was,  would  she  have  a  good  time,  and  anxious 
provision  made  to  that  end.  Lillie  had  declared  that 
reading  aloud  was  a  bore,  which  was  definitive  against 
reading-parties.  She  liked  to  play  and  sing  ;  so  that 
was  always  a  part  of  the  programme.  Lillie  sang  well, 
but  needed  a  great  deal  of  urging.  Her  throat  was  apt 
to  be  sore;  and  she  took  pains  to  say  that  the  harsh 
winter  weather  in  Springdale  was  ruining  her  voice.  A 
good  part  of  an  evening  was  often  spent  in  supplications 
before  she  could  be  induced  to  make  the  endeavor. 

Lillie  had  taken  up  the  whim  of  being  jealous  of  Rose. 
Jealousy  is  said  to  be  a  sign  of  love.  We  hold  an 
other  theory,  and  consider  it  more  properly  a  sign  of 
selfishness.  Look  at  noble-hearted,  unselfish  women, 
and  ask  if  they  are  easily  made  jealous.  Look,  again, 


AFTER   THE  BATTLE.  209 

at  a  woman  who  in  her  whole  life  shows  no  disposition 
to  deny  herself  for  her  husband,  or  to  enter  into  his 
tastes  and  views  and  feelings :  are  not  such  as  she  the 
most  frequently  jealous  ? 

Her  husband,  in  her  view,  is  a  piece  of  her  property ; 
every  look,  word,  and  thought  which  he  gives  to  any 
body  or  thing  else  is  a  part  of  her  private  possessions, 
unjustly  withheld  from  her. 

Independently  of  that,  Lillie  felt  the  instinctive 
jealousy  which  a  passee  queen  of  beauty  sometimes 
has  for  a  young  rival. 

She  had  eyes  to  see  that  Rose  was  daily  growing 
more  and  more  beautiful  ;  and  not  all  that  young  girFs 
considerateness,  her  self-forgetfulness,  her  persistent 
endeavors  to  put  Lillie  forward,  and  make  her  the 
queen  of  the  hour,  could  disguise  this  fact.  Lillie 
was  a  keen-sighted  little  body,  and  saw,  at  a  glance, 
that,  once  launched  into  society  together,  Rose  would 
carry  the  day ;  all  the  more  that  no  thought  of  any  day 
to  be  carried  was  in  her  head. 

Rose  Ferguson  had  one  source  of  attraction  which 
is  as  great  a  natural  gift  as  beauty,  and  which,  when 
it  is  found  with  beauty,  makes  it  perfectly  irresistible ; 
to  wit,  perfect  unconsciousness  of  self.  This  4s  a 
wholly  different  trait  from  unselfishness  :  it  is  not  a 
moral  virtue,  attained  by  voluntary  effort,  but  a  con 
stitutional  gift,  and  a  very  great  one.  Fenelon  praises 
it  as  a  Christian  grace,  under  the  name  of  simplicity ; 
but  we  incline  to  consider  it  only  as  an  advantage  of 
natural  organization.  There  are  many  excellent  Chris- 

14 


210  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

tians  who  are  haunted  by  themselves,  and  in  some  form 
or  other  are  always  busy  with  themselves ;  either  con 
scientiously  pondering  the  right  and  wrong  of  their 
actions,  or  approbatively  sensitive  to  the  opinions  of 
others,  or  a3sthetically  comparing  their  appearance  and 
manners  with  an  interior  standard;  while  there  are 
others  who  have  received  the  gift,  beyond  the  artist's 
eye  or  the  musician's  ear,  of  perfect  self-forgetfulness. 
Their  religion  lacks  the  element  of  conflict,  and  comes 
to  them  by  simple  impulse. 

"  Glad  souls,  without  reproach  or  blot, 
Who  do  His  will,  and  know  it  not." 

Rose  had  a  frank,  open  joyousness  of  nature,  that 
shed  around  her  a  healthy  charm,  like  fine,  breezy 
weather,  or  a  bright  morning;  making  every  one  feel  as 
if  to  be  good  were  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world. 
She  seemed  to  be  thinking  always  and  directly  of 
matters  in  hand,  of  things  to  be  done,  and  subjects 
under  discussion,  as  much  as  if  she  were  an  impersonal 
being. 

She  had  been  educated  with  every  solid  advantage 
which  old  Boston  can  give  to  her  nicest  girls ;  and  that 
is  saying  a  good  deal.  Returning  to  a  country  home 
at  an  early  age,  she  had  been  made  the  companion 
of  her  father ;  entering  into  all  his  literary  tastes,  and 
receiving  constantly,  from  association  with  him,  that 
manly  influence  which  a  woman's  mind  needs  to  develop 
its  completeness.  Living  the  whole  year  in  the  coun 
try,  the  Fergusons  developed  within  themselves  a 


AFTER   THE  BATTLE.  211 

multiplicity  of  resources.  They  read  and  studied,  and 
discussed  subjects  with  their  father;  for,  as  we  all 
know,  the  discussion  of  moral  and  social  questions  has 
been  from  the  first,  and  always  will  be,  a  prime  source 
of  amusement  in  New-England  families ;  and  many  of 
them  keep  up,  with  great  spirit,  a  family  debating 
society,  in  which  whoever  hath  a  psalm,  a  doctrine, 
or  an  interpretation,  has  free  course. 

Rose  had  never  been  into  fashionable  life,  technically 
so  called.  She  had  not  been  brought  out :  there  never 
had  been  a  mile-stone  set  up  to  mark  the  place  where 
"her  education  was  finished;"  and  so  she  had  gone 
on  unconsciously,  —  studying,  reading,  drawing,  and 
cultivating  herself  from  year  to  year,  with  her  head 
and  hands  always  so  full  of  pleasurable  schemes  and 
plans,  that  there  really  seemed  to  be  no  room  for  any 
thing  else.  We  have  seen  with  what  interest  she 
co-operated  with  Grace  in  the  various  good  works 
of  the  factory  village  in  which  her  father  held  shares, 
where  her  activity  found  abundant  scope,  and  her 
beauty  and  grace  of  manner  made  her  a  sort  of  idol. 

Rose  had  once  or  twice  in  her  life  been  awakened  to 
self-consciousness,  by  applicants  rapping  at  the  front 
door  of  her  heart;  but  she  answered  with  such  a 
kind,  frank,  earnest,  "No,  I  thank  you,  sir,"  as  made 
friends  of  her  lovers;  and  she  entered  at  once  into 
pleasant  relations  with  them.  Her  nature  was  so 
healthy,  and  free  from  all  morbid  suggestion ;  her  yes 
and  no  so  perfectly  frank  and  positive,  that  there 
seemed  no  possibility  of  any  tragedy  caused  by  her. 


212  PINK  AND  WHITE  TYRANNY. 

Why  did  not  John  fall  in  love  with  Rose?  Why 
did  not  he,  O  most  sapient  senate  of  womanhood  ?  why 
did  not  your  brother  fall  in  love  with  that  nice  girl  you 
know  of,  who  grew  up  with  you  all  at  his  very  elbow, 
and  was,  as  everybody  else  could  see,  just  the  proper 
person  for  him  ? 

Well,  why  didn't  he?  There  is  the  doctrine  of 
election.  "The  election  hath  obtained  it;  and  the 
rest  were  blinded."  John  was  some  six  years  older 
than  Hose.  He  had  romped  with  her  as  a  little  girl, 
drawn  her  on  his  sled,  picked  up  her  hair-pins,  and 
worn  her  tippet,  when  they  had  skated  together  as 
girl  and  boy.  They  had  made  each  other  Christmas 
and  New  Year's  presents  all  their  lives;  and,  to  say 
the  truth,  loved  each  other  honestly  and  truly :  never 
theless,  John  fell  in  love  with  Lillie,  and  married  her. 
Did  you  ever  know  a  case  like  it  ? 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 
A    BRICK    TURNS    UP. 

r  I  "'HE  snow  had  been  all  night  falling  silently  over 
•*•  the  long  elm  avenues  of  Springdale. 

It  was  one  of  those  soft,  moist,  dreamy  snow-falls, 
which  come  down  in  great  loose  feathers,  resting  in 
magical  frost-work  on  every  tree,  shrub,  and  plant, 
and  seeming  to  bring  down  with  it  the  purity  and 
peace  of  upper  worlds. 

Grace's  little  cottage  on  Elm  Street  was  imbosomed, 
as  New-England  cottages  are  apt  to  be,  in  a  tangle 
of  shrubbery,  evergreens,  syringas,  and  lilacs;  which, 
on  such  occasions,  become  bowers  of  enchantment  when 
the  morning  sun  looks  through  them. 

Grace  came  into  her  parlor,  which  was  cheery  with 
the  dazzling  sunshine,  and,  running  to  the  window, 
began  to  examine  anxiously  the  state  of  her  various 
greeneries,  pausing  from  time  to  time  to  look  out 
admiringly  at  the  wonderful  snow-landscape,  with  its 
many  tremulous  tints  of  rose,  lilac,  and  amethyst. 

The  only  thing  wanting  was  some  one  to  speak 
to  about  it;  and,  with  a  half  sigh,  she  thought  of 


214  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

the  good  old  times  when  John  would  come  to  her 
chamber-door  in  the  morning,  to  get  her  out  to  look  on 
scenes  like  this. 

"  Positively,"  she  said  to  herself,  "  I  must  invite  some 
one  to  visit  me.  One  wants  a  friend  to  help  one  enjoy 
solitude."  The  stock  of  social  life  in  Springdale,  in 
fact,  was  running  low.  The  Lennoxes  and  the  Wilcoxes 
had  gone  to  their  Boston  homes,  and  Rose  Ferguson 
was  visiting  in  New  York,  and  Letitia  found  so  much 
to  do  to  supply  her  place  to  her  father  and  mother, 
that  she  had  less  time  than  usual  to  share  with  Grace. 
Then,  again,  the  Elm-street  cottage  was  a  walk  of 
some  considerable  distance ;  whereas,  when  Grace  lived 
at  the  old  homestead,  the  Fergusons  were  so  near  as  to 
seem  only  one  family,  and  were  dropping  in  at  all  hours 
of  the  day  and  evening. 

"Whom  can  I  send  for?"  thought  Grace  to  her 
self;  and  she  ran  over  mentally,  in  a  moment,  the 
list  of  available  friends  and  acquaintances.  Reader, 
perhaps  you  have  never  really  estimated  your  friends, 
till  you  have  tried  them  by  the  question,  which  of  them 
you  could  ask  to  come  and  spend  a  week  or  fort 
night  with  you,  alone  in  a  country-house,  in  the  depth 
of  winter.  Such  an  invitation  supposes  great  faith  in 
your  friend,  in  yourself,  or  in  human  nature. 

Grace,  at  the  moment,  was  unable  to  think  of  any 
body  whom  she  could  call  from  the  approaching  fes 
tivities  of  holiday  life  in  the  cities  to  share  her  snow 
Patmos  with  her ;  so  she  opened  a  book  for  company, 
and  turned  to  where  her  dainty  breakfast-table,  with  its 


A  BRICK  TURNS   UP.  215 

hot  coffee  and  crisp  rolls,  stood  invitingly  waiting 
for  her  before  the  cheerful  open  fire. 

At  this  moment,  she  saw,  what  she  had  not  noticed 
before,  a  letter  lying  on  her  breakfast  plate.  Grace 
took  it  up  with  an  exclamation  of  surprise;  which, 
however,  was  heard  only  by  her  canary  birds  and 
her  plants. 

Years  before,  when  Grace  was  in  the  first  summer 
of  her  womanhood,  she  had  been  very  intimate  with 
Walter  Sydenham,  and  thoroughly  esteemed  and  liked 
him ;  but,  as  many  another  good  girl  has  done,  about 
those  days  she  had  conceived  it  her  duty  not  to  think 
of  marriage,  but  to  devote  herself  to  making  a  home 
for  her  widowed  father  and  her  brother.  There  was  a 
certain  romance  of  self-abnegation  in  this  disposition  of 
herself  which  was  rather  pleasant  to  Grace,  and  in  which 
both  the  gentlemen  concerned  found  great  advantage. 
As  long  as  her  father  lived,  and  John  was  unmarried 
and  devoted  to  her,  she  had  never  regretted  it. 

Sydenham  had  gone  to  seek  his  fortune  in  California. 
He  had  begged  to  keep  up  intercourse  by  correspond 
ence  ;  but  Grace  was  not  one  of  those  women  who 
are  willing  to  drain  the  heart  of  the  man  they  refuse 
to  marry,  by  keeping  up  with  him  just  that  degree  of 
intimacy  which  prevents  his  seeking  another.  Grace 
had  meant  her  refusal  to  be  final,  and  had  sincerely 
hoped  that  he  would  find  happiness  with  some  other 
woman  ;  and  to  that  intent  had  rigorously  denied  her 
self  and  him  a  correspondence :  yet,  from  time  to  time, 
she  had  heard  of  him  through  an  occasional  letter 


216  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYEANNT. 

to  John,  or  by  a  chance  Californian  newspaper.  Since 
John's  marriage  had  so  altered  her  course  of  life, 
Grace  had  thought  of  him  more  frequently,  and  with 
some  questionings  as  to  the  wisdom  of  her  course. 

This  letter  was  from  him  ;  and  we  shall  give  our 
readers  the  benefit  of  it :  — 

"DEAR  GRACE,  —  You  must  pardon  me  this  begin 
ning,  —  in  the  old  style  of  other  days ;  for  though  many 
years  have  passed,  in  which  I  have  been  trying  to  walk 
in  your  ways,  and  keep  all  your  commandments,  I  have 
never  yet  been  able  to  do  as  you  directed,  and  forget 
you :  and  here  I  am,  beginning  l  Dear  Grace,'  — just 
where  I  left  off  on  a  certain  evening  long,  long  ago.  I 
wonder  if  you  remember  it  as  plainly  as  I  do.  I  am 
just  the  same  fellow  that  I  was  then  and  there.  If 
you  remember,  you  admitted  that,  were  it  not  for 
other  duties,  you  might  have  considered  my  humble 
supplication.  I  gathered  that  it  would  not  have  been 
impossible  per  se^  as  metaphysicians  say,  to  look  with 
favor  on  your  humble  servant. 

"  Gracie,  I  have  been  living,  I  trust,  not  unworthily 
of  you.  Your  photograph  has  been  with  me  round 
the  world,  —  in  the  miner's  tent,  on  shipboard,  among 
scenes  where  barbarous  men  do  congregate ;  and 
everywhere  it  has  been  a  presence,  'to  warn,  to  com 
fort,  to  command  ; '  and  if  I  have  come  out  of  many 
trials  firmer,  better,  more  established  in  right  than 
before;  if  I  am  more  believing  in  religion,  and  in 
every  way  grounded  and  settled  in  the  way  you  would 


A  BRICK  TUENS   UP.  217 

have  me,  —  it;has  been  your  spiritual  presence  and  your 
power  over  me  that  has  done  it.  Besides  that,  I  may 
as  well  tell  you,  I  have  never  given  up  the  hope  that  by 
and  by  you  would  see  all  this,  and  in  some  hour  give 
me  a  different  answer. 

"  When,  therefore,  I  learned  of  your  father's  death, 
and  afterwards  of  John's  marriage,  I  thought  it  was  time 
for  me  to  return  again.  I  have  come  to  New  York, 
and,  if  you  do  not  forbid,  shall  come  to  Springdale. 

"  Will  you  be  a  little  glad  to  see  me,  Gracie  ?  Why 
not  ?  We  are  both  alone  now.  Let  us  take  hands,  and 
walk  the  same  path  together.  Shall  we  ? 

"Yours  till  death,  and  after, 

"WALTER  SYDENHAM." 

Would  she  ?  To  say  the  truth,  the  question  as  asked 
now  had  a  very  different  air  from  the  question  as  asked 
years  before,  when,  full  of  life  and  hope  and  enthusiasm, 
she  had  devoted  herself  to  making  an  ideal  home  for  her 
father  and  brother.  What  other  sympathy  or  com 
munion,  she  had  asked  herself  then,  should  she  ever 
need  than  these  friends,  so  very  dear:  and,  if  she 
needed  more,  there,  in  the  future,  was  John's  ideal 
wife,  who,  somehow,  always  came  before  her  in  the 
likeness  of  Rose  Ferguson,  and  John's  ideal  children, 
whom  she  was  sure  she  should  love  and  pet  as  if  they 
were  her  own. 

And  now  here  she  was,  in  a  house  all  by  herself, 
coming  down  to  her  meals,  one  after  another,  without 
the  excitement  of  a  cheerful  face  opposite  to  her,  and 


218  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

with  all  possibility  of  confidential  intercourse  with 
her  brother  entirely  cut  off.  Lillie,  in  this  matter, 
acted,  with  much  grace  and  spirit,  the  part  of  the  dog 
in  the  manger;  and,  while  she  resolutely  refused  to 
enter  into  any  of  John's  literary  or  intellectual  tastes, 
seemed  to  consider  her  wifely  rights  infringed  upon 
by  any  other  woman  who  would.  She  would  abso 
lutely  refuse  to  go  up  with  her  husband  and  spend  an 
evening  with  Grace,  alleging  it  was  "  pokey  and  stupid," 
and  that  they  always  got  talking  about  things  that 
she  didn't  care  any  thing  about.  If,  then,  John  went 
without  her  to  spend  the  evening,  he  was  sure  to  be 
received,  on  his  return,  with  a  dead  and  gloomy  silence, 
more  fearful,  sometimes,  than  the  most  violent  of  objur 
gations.  That  look  of  patient,  heart-broken  woe,  those 
long-drawn  sighs,  were  a  reception  that  he  dreaded,  to 
say  the  truth,  a  great  deal  more  than  a  direct  attack, 
or  any  fault-finding  to  which  he  could  have  replied  ; 
and  so,  on  the  whole,  John  made  up  his  mind  that  the 
best  thing  he  could  do  was  to  stay  at  home  and  rock  the 
cradle  of  this  fretful  baby,  whose  wisdom-teeth  were  so 
hard  to  cut,  and  so  long  in  coming.  It  was  a  pretty 
baby ;  and  when  made  the  sole  and  undivided  object  of 
attention,  when  every  thing  possible  was  done  for  it  by 
everybody  in  the  house,  condescended  often  to  be  very 
graceful  and  winning  and  playful,  and  had  numberless 
charming  little  ways  and  tricks.  The  difference  be 
tween  Lillie  in  good  humor  and  Lillie  in  bad  humor 
was  a  thing  which  John  soon  learned  to  appreciate  as 
one  of  the  most  powerful  forces  in  his  life.  If  you 


A  BRICK  TURNS    UP.  219 

knew,  my  dear  reader,  that  by  pursuing  a  certain  course 
you  could  bring  upon  yourself  a  drizzling,  dreary,  north 
east  rain-storm,  and  by  taking  heed  to  your  ways  you 
could  secure  sunshine,  flowers,  and  bird-singing,  you 
would  be  very  careful,  after  a  while,  to  keep  about  you 
the  right  atmospheric  temperature ;  and,  if  going  to  see 
the  very  best  friend  you  had  on  earth  was  sure  to  bring 
on  a  fit  of  rheumatism  or  tooth-ache,  you  would  soon 
learn  to  be  very  sparing  of  your  visits.  For  this  rea 
son  it  was  that  Grace  saw  very  little  of  John  ;  that  she 
never  now  had  a  sisterly  conversation  with  him ;  that 
she  preferred  arranging  all  those  little  business  matters, 
in  which  it  would  be  convenient  to  have  a  masculine 
appeal,  solely  and  singly  by  herself.  The  thing  was 
never  referred  to  in  any  conversation  between  them. 
fit  was  perfectly  understood  without  words.  There  are 
friends  between  whom  and  us  has  shut  the  coffin-lid; 
and  there  are  others  between  whom  and  us  stand  sacred 
duties,  considerations  never  to  be  enough  reverenced, 
which  forbid  us  to  seek  their  society,  or  to  ask  to  lean 
on  them  either  in  joy  or  sorrow:  the  whole  thing  as 
regards  them  must  be  postponed  until  the  future  life. 
Such  had  been  Grace's  conclusion  with  regard  to  her 
brother.  She  well  knew  that  any  attempt  to  restore 
their  former  intimacy  would  only  diminish  and  destroy 
what  little  chance  of  happiness  yet  remained  to  him ; 
and  it  may  therefore  be  imagined  with  what  changed 
eyes  she  read  Walter  Sydenham's  letter  from  those 
of  years  ago. 

There  was  a  sound  of  stamping  feet  at  the  front  door ; 


220  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

and  John  came  in,  all  ruddy  and  snow-powdered,  but 
looking,  on  the  whole,  uncommonly  cheerful. 

"  Well,  Gracie,"  he  said,  "  the  fact  is,  I  shall  have  to 
let  Lillie  go  to  New  York  for  a  week  or  two,  to  see 
those  Follingsbees.  Hang  them!  But  what's  the 
matter,  Gracie  ?  Have  you  been  crying,  or  sitting  up 
all  night  reading,  or  what  ?  " 

The  fact  was,  that  Gracie  had  for  once  been  indulg 
ing  in  a  good  cry,  rather  pitying  herself  for  her  lone 
liness,  now  that  the  offer  of  relief  had  come.  She 
laughed,  though ;  and,  handing  John  her  letter,  said,  — 

"Look  here,  John!  here's  a  letter  I  have  just  had 
from  Walter  Sydenham." 

John  broke  out  into  a  loud,  hilarious  laugh. 

"  The  blessed  old  brick ! "  said  he.  "  Has  he  turned 
up  ngain  ?  " 

"  Read  the  letter,  John,"  said  Grace.  "  I  don't  know 
exactly  how  to  answer  it." 

John  read  the  letter,  and  seemed  to  grow  more  and 
more  quiet  as  he  read  it.  Then  he  came  and  stood  by 
Grace,  and  stroked  her  hair  gently. 

"  I  wish,  Gracie  dear,"  he  said,  "  you  had  asked  my 
advice  about  this  matter  years  ago.  You  loved  Walter, 
—  I  can  see  you  did ;  and  you  sent  him  off  on  my  ac 
count.  It  is  just  too  bad !  Of  all  the  men  I  ever  knew, 
he  was  the  one  I  should  have  been  best  pleased  to  have 
you  marry ! " 

"  It  was  not  wholly  on  your  account,  John.  You 
know  there  was  our  father,"  said  Grace. 

"  Yes,  yes,  Gracie ;  but  he  would  have  preferred  to 


A  BRICK  TURNS   UP.  221 

see  you  well  married.  He  would  not  have  been  so  self 
ish,  nor  I  either.  It  is  your  self-abnegation,  you  dear 
over-good  women,  that  makes  us  men  seem  selfish. 
We  should  be  as  good  as  you  are,  if  you  would  give  us 
the  chance.  I  think,  Gracie,  though  you  're  not  aware 
of  it,  there  is  a  spice  of  Pharisaism  in  the  way  in  which 
you  good  girls  allow  us  men  to  swallow  you  up  with 
out  ever  telling  us  what  you  are  doing.  I  often  won 
dered  about  your  intimacy  with  Sydenham,  and  why  it 
never  came  to  any  thing ;  and  I  can  but  half  forgive 
you.  How  selfish  I  must  have  seemed !  " 

"  Oh,  no,  John  !  indeed  not." 

"  Come,  you  needn't  put  on  these  meek  airs.  I  in 
sist  upon  it,  you  have  been  feeling  self-righteous  and 
abused,"  said  John,  laughing;  "but  'all's  well  that 
ends  well.'  Sit  down,  now,  and  write  him  a  real  sen 
sible  letter,  like  a  nice  honest  woman  as  you  are." 

"And  say,  'Yes,  sir,  and  thank  you  too'?"  said 
Grace,  laughing. 

"Well,  something  in  that  way,"  said  John.  "You 
can  fence  it  in  with  as  many  make-believes  as  is  proper. 
And  now,  Gracie,  this  is  deuced  lucky !  You  see  Syd 
enham  will  be  down  here  at  once ;  and  it  wouldn't  be 
exactly  the  thing  for  you  to  receive  him  at  this  house, 
and  our  only  hotel  is  perfectly  impracticable  in  winter ; 
and  that  brings  me  to  what  I  am  here  about.  Lillie  is 
going  to  New  York  to  spend  the  holidays ;  and  I  wanted 
you  to  shut  up,  and  come  up  and  keep  house  for  us. 
You  see  you  have  only  one  servant,  and  we  have  four 
to  be  looked  after.  You  can  bring  your  maid  along, 


222  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

'and  then  I  will  invite  Walter  to  our  house,  where  he 
will  have  a  clear  field ;  and  you  can  settle  all  your  mat 
ters  between  you." 

"  So  Lillie  is  going  to  the  Follingsbees'  ?  "  said  Grace. 

"  Yes :  she  had  a  long,  desperately  sentimental  let 
ter  from  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  urging,  imploring,  and  en 
treating,  and  setting  forth  all  the  splendors  and  glories 
of  New  York.  Between  you  and  me,  it  strikes  me  that 
that  Mrs.  Follingsbee  is  an  affected  goose ;  but  I  couldn't 
say  so  to  Lillie, '  by  no  manner  of  means.'  She  professes 
an  untold  amount  of  admiration  and  friendship  for 
Lillie,  and  sets  such  brilliant  prospects  before  her,  that 
I  should  be  the  most  hard-hearted  old  Turk  in  existence 
if  I  were  to  raise  any  objections  ;  and,  in  fact,  Lillie  is 
quite  brilliant  in  anticipation,  and  makes  herself  so 
delightful  that  I  am  almost  sorry  that  I  agreed  to  let 
her  go." 

"  When  shall  you  want  me,  John  ?  " 

"  Well,  this  evening,  say ;  and,  by  the  way,  couldn't 
you  come  up  and  see  Lillie  a  little  while  this  morning  ? 
She  sent  her  love  to  you,  and  said  she  was  so  hurried 
with  packing,  and  all  that,  that  she  wanted  you  to 
excuse  her  not  calling." 

"  Oh,  yes !  I  '11  come,"  said  Grace,  good-naturedly,  "  as 
soon  as  I  have  had  time  to  put  things  in  a  little  order." 

"  And  write  your  letter,"  said  John,  gayly,  as  he  went 
out.  "  Don't  forget  that." 

Grace  did  not  forget  the  letter ;  but  we  shall  not  in 
dulge  our  readers  with  any  peep  over  her  shoulder,  only 
saying  that,  though  written  with  an  abundance  of  pre- 


A  BRICK  TURNS   UP.  223 

caution,  it  was  one  with  which  Walter  Syndenham  was 
well  satisfied. 

Then  she  made  her  few  arrangements  in  the  house 
keeping  line,  called  in  her  grand  vizier  and  prime  minis 
ter  from  the  kitchen,  and  held  with  her  a  counsel  of  ways 
and  means ;  put  on  her  india-rubbers  and  Polish  boots, 
and  walked  up  through  the  deep  snow-drifts  to  the 
Springdale  post-office,  where  she  dropped  the  fateful 
letter  with  a  good  heart  on  the  whole ;  and  then  she 
went  on  to  John's,  the  old  home,  to  offer  any  parting 
services  to  Lillie  that  might  be  wanted. 

It  is  rather  amusing,  in  any  family  circle,  to  see  how 
some  one  member,  by  dint  of  persistent  exactions, 
comes  to  receive  always,  in  all  the  exigencies  of  life,  an 
amount  of  attention  and  devotion  which  is  never  ren 
dered  back.  Lillie  never  thought  of  such  a  thing  as 
offering  any  services  of  any  sort  to  Grace.  Grace  might 
have  packed  her  trunks  to  go  to  the  moon,  or  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  quite  alone  for  matter  of  any  help  Lillie  would 
ever  have  thought  of.  If  Grace  had  headache  or  tooth 
ache  or  a  bad  cold,  Lillie  was  always  "  so  sorry; "  but  it 
never  occurred  to  her  to  go  and  sit  with  her,  to  read 
to  her,  or  offer  any  of  a  hundred  little  sisterly  offices. 
When  she  was  in  similar  case,  John  always  summoned 
Grace  to  sit  with  Lillie  during  the  hours  that  his  busi 
ness  necessarily  took  him  from  her.  It  really  seemed 
to  be  John's  impression  that  a  toothache  or  headache 
of  Lillie's  was  something  entirely  different  from  the 
same  thing  with  Grace,  or  any  other  person  in  the 
world;  and  Lillie  fully  shared  the  impression. 


224  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Grace  found  the  little  empress  quite  bewildered  in 
her  multiplicity  of  preparations,  and  neglected  details, 
all  of  which  had  been  deferred  to  the  last  day ;  and 
Rosa  and  Anna  and  Bridget,  in  fact  the  whole  staff, 
were  all  busy  in  getting  her  off. 

"  So  good  of  you  to  come,  Gracie ! "  and,  "  If  you 
would  do  this;"  and,  "Won't  you  see  to  that?" 
and,  "If  you  could  just  do  the  other!"  and  Grace 
both  could  and  would,  and  did  what  no  other  pair 
of  hands  could  in  the  same  time.  John  apologized 
for  the  lack  of  any  dinner.  "The  fact  is,  Gracie, 
Bridget  had  to  be  getting  up  a  lot  of  her  things 
that  were  forgotten  till  the  last  moment;  and  I  told 
her  not  to  mind,  we  could  do  on  a  cold  lunch." 
Bridget  herself  had  become  so  wholly  accustomed  to 
the  ways  of  her  little  mistress,  that  it  now  seemed 
the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world  that  the  whole 
house  should  be  upset  for  her. 

But,  at  last,  every  thing  was  ready  and  packed; 
the  trunks  and  boxes  shut  and  locked,  and  the  keys 
sorted ;  and  John  and  Lillie  were  on  their  way  to  the 
station. 

"I  shall  find  out  Walter  in  New  York,  and  bring 
him  back  with  me,"  said  John,  cheerily,  as  he  parted 
from  Grace  in  the  hall.  "I  leave  you  to  get  things 
all  to  rights  for  us." 

It  would  not  have  been  a  very  agreeable  or  cheerful 
piece  of  work  to  tidy  the  disordered  house  and  take 
command  of  the  domestic  forces  under  any  other 
circumstances;  but  now  Grace  found  it  a  very  nice 


A  BRICK  TURNS   UP.  225 

diversion  to  prevent  her  thoughts  from  running  too 
curiously  on  this  future  meeting.  "After  all,"  she 
thought  to  herself,  "he  is  just  the  same  venturesome, 
imprudent  creature  that  he  always  was,  jumping  to 
conclusions,  and  insisting  on  seeing  every  thing  in 
his  own  way.  How  could  he  dare  write  me  such  a 
letter  without  seeing  me?  Ten  years  make  great 
changes.  How  could  he  be  sure  he  would  like  me?" 
And  she  examined  herself  somewhat  critically  in  the 
looking-glass. 

"Well,"  she  said,  "he  may  thank  me  for  it  that 
we  are  not  engaged,  and  that  he  comes  only  as  an 
old  friend,  and  perfectly  free,  for  all  he  has  said,  to 
be  nothing  more,  unless  on  seeing  each  other  we  are  so 
agreed.  ( I  am  so  sorry  the  old  place  is  all  demolished 
and  be-Frenchified.  It  won't  look  natural  to  him ;  and 
I  am  not  the  kind  of  person  to  harmonize  with  these 
cold,  polished,  glistening,  slippery  surroundings,  that 
have  no  home  life  or  association  in  them." 

But  Grace  had  to  wake  from  these  reflections  to  cu 
linary  counsels  with  Bridget,  and  to  arrangements  of 
apartments  with  Rosa.  Her  own  exacting  carefulness 
followed  the  careless  footsteps  of  the  untrained  hand 
maids,  and  rearranged  every  plait  and  fold ;  so  that  by 
nightfall  the  next  day  she  was  thoroughly  tired. 

She  beguiled  the  last  moments,  while  waiting  for  the 
coming  of  the  cars,  in  arranging  her  hair,  and  putting 
on  one  of  those  wonderful  Parisian  dresses,  which 
adapt  themselves  so  precisely  to  the  air  of  the  wearer 
that  they  seem  to  be  in  themselves  works  of  art.  Then 

15 


226  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

she  stood  with  a  fluttering  color  to  see  the  .carriage 
drive  up  to  the  door,  and  the  two  get  out  of  it. 

It  is  almost  too  bad  to  spy  out  such  meetings,  and 
certainly  one  has  no  business  to  describe  them;  but 
Walter  Sydenham  carried  all  before  him,  by  an  old 
habit  which  he  had  of  taking  all  and  every  thing  for 
granted,  as,  from  the  first  moment,  he  did  with  Grace. 
He  had  no  idea  of  hesitations  or  holdings  off,  and 
would  have  none ;  and  met  Gracie  as  if  they  had  parted 
only  yesterday,  and  as  if  her  word  to  him  always  had 
been  yes,  instead  of  no. 

In  fact,  they  had  not  been  together  five  minutes 
before  the  whole  life  of  youth  returned  to  them  both,  — 
that  indestructible  youth  which  belongs  to  warm  hearts 
and  buoyant  spirits. 

Such  a  merry  evening  as  they  had  of  it!  When 
John,  as  the  wood  fire  burned  low  on  the  hearth, 
with  some  excuse  of  letters  to  write  in  his  library, 
left  them  alone  together,  Walter  put  on  her  finger 
a  diamond  ring,  saying, — 

"There,  Gracie!  now,  when  shall  it  be?  You  see 
you've  kept  me  waiting  so  long  that  I  can't  spare 
you  much  time.  I  have  an  engagement  to  be  in 
Montreal  the  first  of  February,  and  I  couldn't  think  of 
going  alone.  They  have  merry  times  there  in  mid 
winter;  and  I'm  sure  it  will  be  ever  so  much  nicer 
for  you  than  keeping  house  alone  here." 

Grace  said,  of  course,  that  k  was  impossible;  but 
Walter  declared  that  doing  the  inipossible  was  precisely 
in  his  line,  and  pushed  on  his  various  advantages  with 


A  BRICK  TURNS   UP.  227 

such  spirit  and  energy  that,  when  they  parted  for 
the  night,  Grace  said  she  would  think  of  it :  which 
promise,  at  the  breakfast  -  table  next  morning,  was 
interpreted  by  the  unblushing  Walter,  and  reported 
to  John,  as  a  full  consent.  Before  noon  that  day, 
Walter  had  walked  up  with  John  and  Grace  to  take 
a  survey  of  the  cottage,  and  had  given  John  indefinite 
power  to  engage  workmen  and  artificers  to  rearrange 
and  enlarge  and  beautify  it  for  their  return  after  the 
wedding  journey.  For  the  rest  of  the  visit,  all  the 
three  were  busy  with  pencil  and  paper,  projecting 
balconies,  bow-windows,  pantries,  library,  and  dining- 
room,  till  the  old  cottage  so  blossomed  out  in  imagina 
tion  as  to  leave  only  a  germ  of  its  former  self. 

Walter's  visit  brought  back  to  John  a  deal  of  the 
warmth  and  freedom  which  he  had  not  known  since  he 
married.  We  often  live  under  an  insensible  pressure 
of  which  we  are  made  aware  only  by  its  removal. 
John  had  been  so  much  in  the  habit  lately  of  watching 
to  please  Lillie,  of  measuring  and  checking  his  words 
or  actions,  that  he  now  bubbled  over  with  a  wild, 
free  delight  in  finding  himself  alone  with  Grace  and 
Walter.  He  laughed,  sang,  whistled,  skipped  upstairs 
two  at  a  time,  and  scarcely  dared  to  say  even  to 
himself  why  he  was  so  happy.  He  did  not  face  himself 
with  that  question,  and  went  dutifully  to  the  library  at 
stated  times  to  write  to  Lillie,  and  made  much  of  her 
little  letters. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

THE   CASTLE   OF  INDOLENCE. 

TF  John  managed  to  be  happy  without  Lillie  in 
•••  Springdale,  Lillie  managed  to  be  blissful  without 
him  in  New  York. 

"  The  bird  let  loose  in  Eastern  skies  "  never  hastened 
more  fondly  home  than  she  to  its  glitter  and  gayety,  its 
life  and  motion,  dash  and  sensation.  She  rustled  in  all 
her  bravery  of  curls  and  frills,  pinkings  and  quillings,  — 
a  marvellous  specimen  of  Parisian  frostwork,  without 
one  breath  of  reason  or  philosophy  or  conscience  to 
melt  it. 

The  Follingsbees'  house  might  stand  for  the  original 
of  the  Castle  of  Indolence. 

"  Halls  where  who  can  tell 
What  elegance  and  grandeur  wide  expand,  — 
The  pride  of  Turkey  and  of  Persia's  land  ? 
Soft  quilts  on  quilts  ;  on  carpets,  carpets  spread ; 
And  couches  stretched  around  in  seemly  band  ; 
And  endless  pillows  rise  to  prop  the  head  : 
So  that  each  spacious  room  was  one  full  swelling  bed." 

It  was  not  without  some  considerable  profit  that 
Mrs.  Follingsbee  had  read  Balzac  and  Dumas,  and  had 


THE   CASTLE   OF  INDOLENCE.  229 

Charlie  Ferrola  for  master  of  arts  in  her  establishment. 
The  effect  of  the  whole  was  perfect ;  it  transported  one, 
bodily,  back  to  the  times  of  Montespan  and  Pompadour, 
when  life  was  all  one  glittering  upper-crust,  and  pretty 
women  were  never  troubled  with  even  the  shadow  of 
a  duty. 

It  was  with  a  rebound  of  joyousness  that  Lillie  found 
herself  once  more  with  a  crowded  list  of  invitations, 
calls,  operas,  dancing,  and  shopping,  that  kept  her 
pretty  little  head  in  a  perfect  whirl  of  excitement, 
and  gave  her  not  one  moment  for  thought. 

Mrs.  Follingsbee,  to  say  the  truth,  would  have  been  a 
little  careful  about  inviting  a  rival  queen  of  beauty  into 
the  circle,  were  it  not  that  Charlie  Ferrola,  after  an  atten 
tive  consideration  of  the  subject,  had  assured  her  that  a 
golden-haired  blonde  would  form  a  most  complete  and 
effective  tableau,  in  contrast  with  her  own  dark  rich 
style  of  beauty.  Neither  would  lose  by  it,  so  he  said ; 
and  the  impression,  as  they  rode  together  in  an  elegant 
open  barouche,  with  ermine  carriage  robes,  would  be 
"  stunning."  So  they  called  each  other  ma  soeur,  and 
drove  out  in  the  park  in  a  ravishing  little  pony-phaeton 
all  foamed  over  with  ermine,  drawn  by  a  lovely  pair 
of  cream-colored  horses,  whose  harness  glittered  with 
gold  and  silver,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Count  of  Monte 
Cristo.  In  truth,  if  Dick  Follingsbee  did  not  remind 
one  of  Solomon  in  all  particulars,  he  was  like  him  in 
one,  that  he  "  made  silver  and  gold  as  the  stones  of  the 
street"  in  New  York. 

Lillie's  presence,  however,  was  all  desirable  ;  because 


230  PINK  AND  WHITE  TYRANNY. 

it  would  draw  the  calls  of  two  or  three  old  New  York 
families  who  had  hitherto  stood  upon  their  dignity,  and 
refused  to  acknowledge  the  shoddy  aristocracy.  The 
beautiful  Mrs.  John  Seymour,  therefore,  was  no  less 
useful  than  ornamental,  and  advanced  Mrs.  Follings- 
bee's  purposes  in  her  "  Excelsior  "  movements. 

"  JSTow,  I  suppose,"  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee  to  Lillie 
one  day,  when  they  had  been  out  making  fashionable 
calls  together,  "  we  really  must  call  on  Charlie's  wife, 
just  to  keep  her  quiet." 

"  I  thought  you  didn't  like  her,"  said  Lillie, 

"I  don't;  I  think  she  is  dreadfully  common,"  said 
Mrs.  Follingsbee :  "  she  is  one  of  those  women  who  can't 
talk  any  thing  but  baby,  and  bores  Charlie  half  to  death. 
But  then,  you  know,  when  there  is  a  liaison  like  mine 
with  Charlie,  one  can't  be  too  careful  to  cultivate  the 
wives.  X/es  convenances,  you  know,  are  the  all-impor 
tant  things.  I  send  her  presents  constantly,  and  send 
my  carriage  around  to  take  her  to  church  or  opera,  or 
any  thing  that  is  going  on,  and  have  her  children  at  my 
fancy  parties  :  yet,  for  all  that,  the  creature  has  not  a 
particle  of  gratitude;  those  narrow-minded  women 
never  have.  You  know  I  am  very  susceptible  to  people's 
atmospheres  ;  and  I  always  feel  that  that  creature  is  just 
as  full  of  spite  and  jealousy  as  she  can  stick  in  her  skin." 

It  will  be  remarked  that  this  was  one  of  those  idio 
matic  phrases  which  got  lodged  in  Mrs.  Follingsbee's 
head  in  a  less  cultivated  period  of  her  life,  as  a  rusty 
needle  sometimes  hides  in  a  cushion,  coming  out  unex 
pectedly  when  excitement  gives  it  an  honest  squeeze. 


THE   CASTLE  OF  INDOLENCE.  231 

"Now,  I  should  think,"  pursued  Mrs.  Follingsbee, 
"  that  a  woman  who  really  loved  her  husband  would  be 
thankful  to  have  him  have  such  a  rest  from  the  disturb 
ing  family  cares  which  smother  a  man's  genius,  as  a 
house  like  oars  oifers  him.  How  can  the  artistic  nature 
exercise  itself  in  the  very  grind  of  the  thing,  when  this 
child  has  a  cold,  and  the  other  the  croup ;  and  there  is 
fussing  with  mustard-paste  and  ipecac  and  paregoric,  — 
all  those  realities,  you  know  ?  Why,  Charlie  tells  me 
he  feels  a  great  deal  more  affection  for  his  children  when 
he  is  all  calm  and  tranquil  in  the  little  boudoir  at 
our  house ;  and  he  writes  such  lovely  little  poems  about 
them,  I  must  show  you  some  of  them.  But  this  creat 
ure  doesn't  appreciate  them  a  bit :  she  has  no  poetry 
in  her." 

"  Well,  I  must  say,  I  don't  think  I  should  have,"  said 
Lillie,  honestly.  "I  should  be  just  as  mad  as  I  could 
be,  if  John  acted  so."  X 

"  Oh,  my  dear !  the  cases  are  different :  Charlie  has 
such  peculiarities  of  genius.  The  artistic  nature,  you 
know,  requires  soothing."  Here  they  stopped,  and 
rang  at  the  door  of  a  neat  little  house,  and  were  ushered 
into  a  pair  of  those  characteristic  parlors  which  show 
that  they  have  been  arranged  by  a  home-worshipper,  and 
a  mother.  There  were  plants  and  birds  and  flowers, 
and  little  genre  pictures  of  children,  animals,  and  house 
hold  interiors,  arranged  with  a  loving  eye  and  hand. 

"  Did  you  ever  see  any  thing  so  perfectly  character 
istic  ? "  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  looking  around  her  as 
if  she  were  gohig  to  faint. 


232  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

"  This  woman  drives  Charlie  perfectly  wild,  because 
she  has  no  appreciation  of  high  art.  Now,  I  sent  her 
photographs  of  Michel  Angelo's  '  Moses, '  and  '  Night 
and  Morning ; '  and  I  really  wish  you  would  see  where 
she  hung  them,  —  away  in  yonder  dark  corner ! " 

"  I  think  myself  they  are  enough  to  scare  the  owls," 
said  Lillie,  after  a  moment's  contemplation. 

"But,  my  dear,  you  know  they  are  the  thing,"  said 
Mrs.  Follingsbee :  "  people  never  like  such  things  at 
first,  and  one  must  get  used  to  high  art  before  one 
forms  a  taste  for  it.  The  thing  with  her  is,  she  has  no 
docility.  She  does  not  try  to  enter  into  Charlie's 
tastes." 

The  woman  with  "no  docility"  entered  at  this  mo 
ment,  —  a  little  snow-drop  of  a  creature,  with  a  pale, 
pure,  Madonna  face,  and  that  sad  air  of  hopeless  firm 
ness  which  is  seen  unhappily  in  the  faces  of  so  many 
women. 

"  I  had  to  bring  baby  down,"  she  said.  "  I  have  no 
nurse  to-day,  and  he  has  been  threatened  with  croup." 

"  The  dear  little  fellow !  "  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  with 
officious  graciousness.  "  So  glad  you  brought  him 
down ;  come  to  his  aunty  ? "  she  inquired  lovingly,  as 
the  little  fellow  shrank  away,  and  regarded  her  with 
round,  astonished  eyes.  "  Why  will  you  not  come  to 
my  next  reception,  Mrs.  Ferrola  ?  "  she  added.  "  You 
make  yourself  quite  a  stranger  to  us.  You  ought  to 
give  yourself  some  variety." 

"The  fact  is,  Mrs.  Follingsbee,"  said  Mrs.  Ferrola, 
"receptions  in  New  York  generally  begin  about  my 


THE   CASTLE   OF  INDOLENCE. 


233 


bed-time ;  and,  if  I  should  spend  the  night  out,  I  should 
have  no  strength  to  give  to  my  children  the  next  day." 


"  I  had  to  bring  baby  down." 

"But,  my  dear,   you   ought  to   have   some   amuse 


ment. 


"  My  children  amuse  me,  if  you  will  believe  it,"  said 
Mrs.  Ferrola,  with  a  remarkably  quiet  smile. 

Mrs.  Follingsbee  was  not  quite  sure  whether  this 
was  meant  to  be  sarcastic  or  not.  She  answered, 


234  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

however,  "  Well !  your  husband  will  come,  at  all 
events." 

"  You  may  be  quite  sure  of  that,"  said  Mrs.  Ferrola, 
with  the  same  quietness. 

"  Well ! "  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  rising,  with  patroniz 
ing  cheerfulness,  "  delighted  to  see  you  doing  so  well ; 
and,  if  it  is  pleasant,  I  will  send  the  carriage  round  to 
take  you  a  drive  in  the  park  this  afternoon.  Good- 
morning." 

And,  like  a  rustling  cloud  of  silks  and  satins  and 
perfumes,  she  bent  down  and  kissed  the  baby,  and 
swept  from  the  apartment. 

Mrs.  Ferrola,  with  a  movement  that  seemed  involun 
tary,  wiped  the  baby's  cheek  with  her  handkerchief, 
and,  folding  it  closer  to  her  bosom,  looked  up  as  if 
asking  patience  where  patience  is  to  be  found  for  the 
asking. 

"There!  didn't  I  tell  you?"  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee 
when  she  came  out ;  "just  one  of  those  provoking, 
meek,  obstinate,  impracticable  creatures,  with  no  adap 
tation  in  her." 

"  Oh,  gracious  me  !  "  said  Lillie :  "  I  can't  imagine 
more  dire  despair  than  to  sit  all  day  tending  baby." 

"  Well,  so  you  would  think  ;  and  Charlie  has  offered 
to  hire  competent  nurses,  and  wants  her  to  dress  her 
self  up  and  go  into  society ;  and  she  just  won't  do  it, 
and  sticks  right  down  by  the  cradle  there,  with  her 
children  running  over  her  like  so  many  squirrels." 

"  Oh !  I  hope  and  trust  I  never  shall  have  children," 
said  Lillie,  fervently,  "  because,  you  see,  there 's  an  end 


THE  CASTLE   OF  INDOLENCE.  235 

of  every  thing.  No  more  fun,  no  more  frolics,  no  more 
admiration  or  good  times;  nothing  but  this  frightful 
baby,  that  you  can't  get  rid  of." 

Yet,  as  Lillie  spoke,  she  knew,  in  her  own  slippery 
little  heart,  that  the  shadow  of  this  awful  cloud  of 
maternity  was  resting  over  her ;  though  she  laced  and 
danced,  and  bid  defiance  to  every  law  of  nature,  with  a 
blind  and  ignorant  wilfulness,  not  caring  what  conse 
quences  she  might  draw  down  on  herself,  if  only  she 
might  escape  this. 

And  was  there,  then,  no  soft  spot  in  this  woman's 
heart  anywhere  ?  Generally  it  is  thought  that  the  throb 
of  the  child's  heart  awakens  a  heart  in  the  mother,  and 
that  the  mother  is  born  again  with  her  child.  It  is  so 
with  unperverted  nature,  as  God  meant  it  to  be ;  and 
you  shall  hear  from  the  lips  of  an  Irish  washer-woman 
a  genuine  poetry  of  maternal  feeling,  for  the  little  one 
who  comes  to  make  her  toil  more  toilsome,  that  is 
wholly  withered  away  out  of  luxurious  circles,  where 
there  is  every  thing  to  make  life  easy.  Just  as  the 
Chinese  have  contrived  fashionable  monsters,  where 
human  beings  are  constrained  to  grow  in  the  shape  of 
flower-pots,  so  fashionable  life  contrives  at  last  to  grow 
a  woman  who  hates  babies,  and  will  risk  her  life  to  be 
rid  of  the  crowning  glory  of  womanhood. 

There  was  a  time  in  Lillie's  life,  when  she  was  six 
teen  years  of  age,  which  was  a  turning-point  with  her, 
and  decided  that  she  should  be  the  heartless  woman 
she  was.  If  at  that  age,  and  at  that  time,  she  had 
decided  to  marry  the  man  she  really  loved,  marriage 


236  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

might  indeed  have  proved  to  her  a  sacrament.  It  might 
have  opened  to  her  a  door  through  which  she  could 
have  passed  out  from  a  career  of  selfish  worldliness 
into  that  gradual  discipline  of  unselfishness  which  a 
true  love-marriage  brings. 

But  she  did  not.  The  man  was  poor,  and  she  was 
beautiful ;  her  beauty  would  buy  wealth  and  worldly  po 
sition,  and  so  she  cast  him  off.  Yet  partly  to  gratify  her 
own  lingering  feeling,  and  partly  because  she  could  not 
wholly  renounce  what  had  once  been  hers,  she  kept  up 
for  years  with  him  just  that  illusive  simulacrum  which 
such  women  call  friendship  ;  which,  while  constantly 
denying,  constantly  takes  pains  to  attract,  and  drains 
the  heart  of  all  possibility  of  loving  another. 

Harry  Endicott  was  a  young  man  of  fine  capabilities, 
sensitive,  interesting,  handsome,  full  of  generous  im 
pulses,  whom  a  good  woman  might  easily  have  led  to  a 
full  completeness.  He  was  not  really  Lillie's  cousin, 
but  the  cousin  of  her  mother ;  yet,  under  the  name  of 
cousin,  he  had  constant  access  and  family  intimacy. 

This  winter  Harry  Endicott  suddenly  returned  to  the 
fashionable  circles  of  New  York,  —  returned  from  a 
successful  career  in  India,  with  an  ample  fortune.  He 
was  handsomer  than  ever,  took  stylish  bachelor  lodg 
ings,  set  up  a  most  distracting  turnout,  and  became  a 
sort  of  Marquis  of  Farintosh  in  fashionable  circles. 
Was  ever  any  thing  so  lucky',  or  so  unlucky,  for  our 
Lillie  ?  —  lucky,  if  life  really  does  run  on  the  basis  of 
French  novels,  and  if  all  that  is  needed  is  the  sparkle 
and  stimulus  of  new  emotions;  unlucky,  nay,  even 


THE  CASTLE  OF  INDOLENCE.  237 

gravely  terrible,  if  life  really  is  established  on  a  basis  of 
moral  responsibility,  and  dogged  by  the  fatal  necessity 
that  "  whatsoever  man  or  woman  soweth,  that  shall  he 
or  she  also  reap." 

In  the  most  critical  hour  of  her  youth,  when  love 
was  sent  to  her  heart  like  an  angel,  to  beguile  her  from 
selfishness,  and  make  self-denial  easy,  Lillie's  pretty 
little  right  hand  had  sowed  to  the  world  and  the  flesh ; 
and  of  that  sowing  she  was  now  to  reap  all  the  dis 
quiets,  the  vexations,  the  tremors,  that  go  to  fill  the 
pages  of  French  novels,  —  records  of  women  who  marry 
where  they  cannot  love,  to  serve  the  purposes  of  selfish 
ness  and  ambition,  and  then  make  up  for  it  by  loving 
where  they  cannot  marry.  If  all  the  women  in  America 
who  have  practised,  and  are  practising,  this  species  of 
moral  agriculture  should  stand  forth  together,  it  would 
be  seen  that  it  is  not  for  nothing  that  France  has  been 
called  the  society  educator  of  the  world. 

The  apartments  of  the  Follingsbee  mansion,  with 
their  dreamy  voluptuousness,  were  eminently  adapted 
to  be  the  background  and  scenery  of  a  dramatic  per 
formance  of  this  kind.  There  were  vistas  of  drawing- 
rooms,  with  delicious  boudoirs,  like  side  chapels  in  a 
temple  of  Venus,  with  handsome  Charlie  Ferrola  glid 
ing  in  and  out,  or  lecturing  dreamily  from  the  corner 
of  some  sofa  on  the  last  most  important  crinkle  of  the 
artistic  rose-leaf,  demonstrating  conclusively  that  beauty 
was  the  only  true  morality,  and  that  there  was  no  sin  but 
bad  taste  ;  and  that  nobody  knew  what  good  taste  was 
but  himself  and  his  clique.  There  was  the  discussion, 


238  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYEANNY. 

far  from  edifying,  of  modern  improved  theories  of  soci 
ety,  seen  from  an  improved  philosophic  point  of  view; 
of  all  the  peculiar  wants  and  needs  of  etherealized  be 
ings,  who  have  been  refined  and  cultivated  till  it  is  the 
most  difficult  problem  in  the  world  to  keep  them  com 
fortable,  while  there  still  remains  the  most  imperative 
necessity  that  they  should  be  made  happy,  though  the 
whole  universe  were  to  be  torn  down  and  made  over  to 
effect  it. 

The  idea  of  not  being  happy,  and  in  all  respects  as 
blissful  as  they  could  possibly  be  made,  was  one  always 
assumed  by  the  Follingsbee  clique  as  an  injustice  to  be 
wrestled  with.  Anybody  that  did  not  affect  them 
agreeably,  that  jarred  on  their  nerves,  or  interrupted 
the  delicious  reveries  of  existence  with  the  sharp  saw- 
setting  of  commonplace  realities,  in  their  view  ought 
to  be  got  rid  of  summarily,  whether  that  somebody 
were  husband  or  wife,  parent  or  child. 

Natures  that  affected  each  other  pleasantly  were  to 
spring  together  like  dew-drops,  and  sail  off  on  rosy 
clouds  with  each  other  to  the  land  of  Do-just-as-you- 
have-a-mind-to. 

The  only  thing  never  to  be  enough  regretted,  which 
prevented  this  immediate  and  blissful  union  of  particles, 
was  the  impossibility  of  living  on  rosy  clouds,  and 
making  them  the  means  of  conveyance  to  the  desir 
able  country  before  mentioned.  Many  of  the  fair 
illuminatce,  who  were  quite  willing  to  go  off  with 
a  kindred  spirit,  were  withheld  by  the  necessities  of 
infinite  pairs  of  French  kid  gloves,  and  gallons  of 


THE  CASTLE  OF  INDOLENCE.  239 

cologne-water,  and  indispensable  clouds  of  mechlin  and 
point  lace,  which  were  necessary  to  keep  around  them 
the  poetry  of  existence. 

Although  it  was  well  understood  among  them  that 
the  religion  of  the  emotions  is  the  only  true  religion, 
and  that  nothing  is  holy  that  you  do  not  feel  exactly 
like  doing,  and  every  thing  is  holy  that  you  do ;  still 
these  fair  confessors  lacked  the  pluck  of  primitive 
Christians,  and  could  not  think  of  taking  joyfully  the 
spoiling  of  their  goods,  even  for  the  sake  of  a  kindred 
spirit.  Hence  the  necessity  of  living  in  deplored  mar 
riage-bonds  with  husbands  who  could  pay  rent  and 
taxes,  and  stand  responsible  for  unlimited  bills  at  Stew 
art's  and  Tiffany's.  Hence  the  philosophy  which  allowed 
the  possession  of  the  body  to  one  man,  and  of  the  soul 
to  another,  which  one  may  see  treated  of  at  large  in 
any  writings  of  the  day. 

As  yet  Lillie  had  been  kept  intact  from  all  this  sort 
of  thing  by  the  hard,  brilliant  enamel  of  selfishness. 
That  little  shrewd,  gritty  common  sense,  which  enabled 
her  to  see  directly  through  other  people's  illusions,  has, 
if  we  mistake  not,  by  this  time  revealed  itself  to  our 
readers  as  an  element  in  her  mind  :  but  now  there  is  to 
come  a  decided  thrust  at  the  heart  of  her  womanhood ; 
and  we  shall  see  whether  the  paralysis  is  complete,  or 
whether  the  woman  is  alive. 

If  Lillie  had  loved  Harry  Endicott  poor,  had  loved 
him  so  much  that  at  one  time  she  had  seriously  bal 
anced  the  possibility  of  going  to  housekeeping  in  a  little 
unfashionable  house,  and  having  only  one  girl,  and  hand 


240  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

in  hand  with  him  walking  the  paths  of  economy,  self- 
denial,  and  prudence,  —  the  reader  will  see  that  Harry 
Endicott  rich,  Harry  Endicott  enthroned  in  fashionable 
success,  Harry  Endicott  plus  fast  horses,  splendid  equi 
pages,  a  fine  city  house,  and  a  country  house  on  the 
Hudson,  was  something  still  more  dangerous  to  her 
imagination. 

But  more  than  this  was  the  stimulus  of  Harry  Endi 
cott  out  of  her  power,  and  beyond  the  sphere  of  her 
charms.  She  had  a  feverish  desire  to  see  him,  but  he 
never  called.  Forthwith  she  had  a  confidential  con 
versation  with  her  bosom  friend,  who  entered  into 
the  situation  with  enthusiasm,  and  invited  him  to  her 
receptions.  But  he  didn't  come. 

The  fact  was,  that  Harry  Endicott  hated  Lillie  now, 
with  that  kind  of  hatred  which  is  love  turned  wrong- 
side  out.  He  hated  her  for  the  misery  she  had  caused 
him,  and  was  in  some  danger  of  feeling  it  incumbent 
on  himself  to  go  to  the  devil  in  a  wholly  unnecessary 
manner  on  that  account. 

He  had  read  the  story  of  Monte  Cristo,  with  its 
highly  wrought  plot  of  vengeance,  and  had  determined 
to  avenge  himself  on  the  woman  who  had  so  tortured 
him,  and  to  make  her  feel,  if  possible,  what  he  had  felt. 

So,  when  he  had  discovered  the  hours  of  driving 
observed  by  Mrs.  Follingsbee  and  Lillie  in  the  park,  he 
took  pains,  from  time  to  time,  to  meet  them  face  to  face, 
and  to  pass  Lillie  with  an  unrecognizing  stare.  Then 
he  dashed  in  among  Mrs.  Follingsbee's  circle,  making 
himself  everywhere  talked  of,  till  they  were  beset  on  all 


THE   CASTLE   OF  INDOLENCE.  241 

hands  by  the  inquiry,  "  Don't  you  know  young  Endi- 
cott  ?  why,  I  should  think  you  would  want  to  have  him 
visit  here." 

After  this  had  been  played  far  enough,  he  suddenly 
showed  himself  one  evening  at  Mrs.  Follingsbee's,  and 
apologized  in  an  off-hand  manner  to  Lillie,when  reminded 
of  passing  her  in  the  park,  that  really  he  wasn't  think 
ing  of  meeting  her,  and  didn't  recognize  her,  she  was  so 
altered ;  it  had  been  so  many  years  since  they  had  met, 
&c.  All  in  a  tone  of  cool  and  heartless  civility,  every 
word  of  which  was  a  dagger's  thrust  not  only  into  her 
vanity,  but  into  the  poor  little  bit  of  a  real  heart  which 
fashionable  life  had  left  to  Lillie. 

Every  evening,  after  he  had  gone,  came  a  long,  con 
fidential  conversation  with  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  in  which 
every  word  and  look  was  discussed  and  turned,  and 
all  possible  or  probable  inferences  therefrom  reported ; 
after  which  Lillie  often  laid  a  sleepless  head  on  a  hot 
and  tumbled  pillow,  poor,  miserable  child !  suffering  her 
punishment,  without  even  the  grace  to  know  whence  it 
came,  or  what  it  meant.  Hitherto  Lillie  had  been  walk 
ing  only  in  the  limits  of  that  kind  of  permitted  wicked 
ness,  which,  although  certainly  the  remotest  thing 
possible  from  the  Christianity  of  Christ,  finds  a  great 
deal  of  tolerance  and  patronage  among  communicants 
of  the  altar.  She  had  lived  a  gay,  vain,  self-pleasing 
life,  with  no  object  or  purpose  but  the  simple  one  to  get 
each  day  as  much  pleasurable  enjoyment  out  of  exist 
ence  as  possible.  Mental  and  physical  indolence  and 
inordinate  vanity  had  been  the  key-notes  of  her  life. 

IP, 


242  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYEANNY. 

She  hated  every  thing  that  required  protracted  thought, 
or  that  made  trouble,  and  she  longed  for  excitement. 
The  passion  for  praise  and  admiration  had  become  to 
her  like  the  passion  of  the  opium-eater  for  his  drug,  or 
of  the  brandy-drinker  for  his  dram.  But  now  she  was 
heedlessly  steering  to  what  might  prove  a  more  palpable 
sin. 

Harry  the  serf,  once  half  despised  for  his  slavish 
devotion,  now  stood  before  her,  proud  and  free,  and 
tantalized  her  by  the  display  he  made  of  his  indiffer 
ence,  and  preference  for  others.  She  put  forth  every 
art  and  effort  to  recapture  him.  But  the  most  dreadful 
stroke  of  fate  of  all  was,  that  Rose  Ferguson  had  come 
to  New  York  to  make  a  winter  visit,  and  was  much 
talked  of  in  certain  circles  where  Harry  was  quite  in 
timate;  and  he  professed  himself,  indeed,  an  ardent 
admirer  at  her  shrine. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

THE    VAN  ASTRACHANS. 

'THHE  Van  Astrachans,  a  proud,  rich  old  family,  who 
-*•  took  a  certain  defined  position  in  New-York  life 
on  account  of  some  ancestral  passages  in  their  family 
history,  had  invited  Rose  to  spend  a  month  or  two  with 
them ;  and  she  was  therefore  moving  as  a  star  in  a  very 
high  orbit. 

Now,  these  Van  Astrachans  were  one  of  those  cold, 
glittering,  inaccessible  pinnacles  in  Mrs.  Follingsbee's 
fashionable  Alp-climbing  which  she  would  spare  no  ex 
pense  to  reach  if  possible.  It  was  one  of  the  families 
for  whose  sake  she  had  Mrs.  John  Seymour  under  her 
roof;  and  the  advent  of  Rose,  whom  she  was  pleased 
to  style  one  of  Mrs.  Seymour's  most  intimate  friends, 
was  an  unhoped-for  stroke  of  good  luck ;  because  there 
was  the  necessity  of  calling  on  Rose,  of  taking  her  out 
to  drive  in  the  park,  and  of  making  a  party  on  her 
account,  from  which,  of  course,  the  Van  Astrachans 
could  not  stay  away. 

It  will  be  seen  here  that  our  friend,  Mrs.  Follingsbee, 
like  all  ladies  whose  watch-word  is  "  Excelsior,"  had  a 
peculiar,  difficult,  and  slippery  path  to  climb. 


244  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

The  Van  Astrachans  were  good  old  Dutch- Reformed 
Christians,  unquestioning  believers  in  the  Bible  in 
general,  and  the  Ten  Commandments  in  particular,  — 
persons  whose  moral  constitutions  had  been  nourished 
on  the  great  stocky  beefsteaks  and  sirloins  of  plain  old 
truths  which  go  to  form  English  and  Dutch  nature. 
Theirs  was  a  style  of  character  which  rendered  them 
utterly  hopeless  of  comprehending  the  etherealized  spe 
cies  of  holiness  which  obtained  in  the  innermost  cir 
cles  of  the  Follingsbee  illuminati.  Mr.  Van  Astrachan 
buttoned  under  his  coat  not  only  many  solid  inches  of 
what  Carlyle  calls  "good  Christian  fat,"  but  also  a 
pocket-book  through  which  millions  of  dollars  were 
passing  daily  in  an  easy  and  comfortable  flow,  to  the 
great  advantage  of  many  of  his  fellow-creatures  no  less 
than  himself;  and  somehow  or  other  he  was  pig-headed 
in  the  idea  that  the  Bible  and  the  Ten  Commandments 
had  something  to  do  with  that  stability  of  things  which 
made  this  necessary  flow  easy  and  secure. 

He  was  slow-moulded,  accurate,  and  fond  of  security ; 
and  was  of  opinion  that  nineteen  centuries  of  Christi 
anity  ought  to  have  settled  a  few  questions  so  that  they 
could  be  taken  for  granted,  and  were  not  to  be  kept 
open  for  discussion. 

Moreover,  Mr.  Van  Astrachan  having  read  the 
accounts  of  the  first  French  revolution,  and  having 
remarked  all  the  subsequent  history  of  that  country, 
was  confirmed  in  his  idea,  that  pitching  every  thing 
into  pi  once  in  fifty  years  was  no  way  to  get  on  in  the 
affairs  of  this  world. 


THE    VAN  ASTEACHANS.  245 

He  had  strong  suspicions  of  every  thing  French,  and 
a  mind  very  ill  adapted  to  all  those  delicate  reasonings 
and  shadings  and  speculations  of  which  Mr.  Charlie 
Ferrola  was  particularly  fond,  which  made  every  thing 
in  morals  and  religion  an  open  question. 

He  and  his  portly  wife  planted  themselves,  like  two 
canons  of  the  sanctuary,  every  Sunday,  in  the  tip-top 
highest-priced  pew  of  the  most  orthodox  old  church  in 
New  York  ;  and  if  the  worthy  man  sometimes  indulged 
in  gentle  slumbers  in  the  high-padded  walls  of  his  slip, 
it  was  because  he  was  so  well  assured  of  the  orthodoxy 
of  his  minister  that  he  felt  that  no  interest  of  society 
would  suffer  while  he  was  off  duty.  But  may  Heaven 
grant  us,  in  these  days  of  dissolving  views  and  general 
undulation,  large  armies  of  these  solid-planted  artillery 
on  the  walls  of  our  Zion ! 

Blessed  be  the  people  whose  strength  is  to  sit  still ! 
Much  needed  are  they  when  the  activity  of  free  inquiry 
seems  likely  to  chase  us  out  of  house  and  home,  and 
leave  us,  like  the  dove  in  the  deluge,  no  rest  for  the 
sole  of  our  foot. 

Let  us  thank  God  for  those  Dutch-Reformed  churches ; 
great  solid  breakwaters,  that  stand  as  the  dykes  in  their 
ancestral  Holland  to  keep  out  the  muddy  waves  of 
that  sea  whose  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt. 

But  let  us  fancy  with  what  quakings  and  shakings  of 
heart  Mrs.  Follingsbee  must  have  sought  the  alliance 
of  these  tremendously  solid  old  Christians.  They  were 
precisely  what  she  wanted  to  give  an  air  of  solidity  to 
the  cobweb  glitter  of  her  state.  And  we  can  also  see 


246  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

how  necessary  it  was  that  she  should  ostentatiously 
visit  Charlie  Ferrola's  wife,  and  speak  of  her  as  a  dar 
ling  creature,  her  particular  friend,  whom  she  was  doing 
her  very  best  to  keep  out  of  an  early  grave. 

Charlie  Ferrola  said  that  the  Van  Astrachans  were 
obtuse ;  and  so,  to  a  certain  degree,  they  were.  In 
social  matters  they  had  a  kind  of  confiding  simplicity. 
They  were  so  much  accustomed  to  regard  positive 
morals  in  the  light  of  immutable  laws  of  Nature,  that 
it  would  not  have  been  easy  to  have  made  them  under 
stand  that  sliding  scale  of  estimates  which  is  in  use 
nowadays.  They  would  probably  have  had  but  one 
word,  and  that  a  very  disagreeable  one,  to  designate  a 
married  woman  who  was  in  love  with  anybody  but  her 
husband.  Consequently,  they  were  the  very  last  people 
whom  any  gossip  of  this  sort  could  ever  reach,  or  to 
whose  ears  it  could  have  been  made  intelligible. 

Mr.  Van  Astrachan  considered  Dick  Follingsbee  a 
swindler,  whose  proper  place  was  the  State's  prison,  and 
whose  morals  could  only  be  mentioned  with  those  of 
Sodom  and  Gomorrah. 

Nevertheless,  as  Mrs.  Follingsbee  made  it  a  point  of 
rolling  up  her  eyes  and  sighing  deeply  when  his  name 
was  mentioned,  —  as  she  attended  church  on  Sunday 
with  conspicuous  faithfulness,  and  subscribed  to  chari 
table  societies  and  all  manner  of  good  works,  —  as  she 
had  got  appointed  directress  on  the  board  of  an  orphan 
asylum  where  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  figured  in  association 
with  her,  that  good  lady  was  led  to  look  upon  her  with 
compassion,  as  a  worthy  woman  who  was  making  the 


THE   VAN  ASTBACHANS.  247 

best  of  her  way  to  heaven,  notwithstanding  the  oppo 
sition  of  a  dissolute  husband. 

As  for  Rose,  she  was  as  fresh  and  innocent  and  dewy, 
in  the  hot  whirl  and  glitter  and  glare  of  New  York,  as 
a  waving  spray  of  sweet-brier,  brought  in  fresh  with  all 
the  dew  upon  it. 

She  really  had  for  Lillie  a  great  deal  of  that  kind  of 
artistic  admiration  which  nice  young  girls  sometimes 
have  for  very  beautiful  women  older  than  themselves  ; 
and  was,  like  almost  every  one  else,  somewhat  bejug- 
gled  and  taken  in  by  that  air  of  infantine  sweetness  and 
simplicity  which  had  survived  all  the  hot  glitter  of  her 
life,  as  if  a  rose,  fresh  with  dew,  should  lie  unwilted  in 
the  mouth  of  a  furnace. 

Moreover,  Lillie's  face  had  a  beauty  this  winter  it  had 
never  worn  :  the  softness  of  a  real  feeling,  the  pathos  of 
real  suffering,  at  times  touched  her  face  with  something 
that  was  always  wanting  in  it  before.  The  bitter  waters 
of  sin  that  she  would  drink  gave  a  strange  feverish 
color  to  her  cheek ;  and  the  poisoned  perfume  she  would 
inhale  gave  a  strange  new  brightness  to  her  eyes. 

Rose  sometimes  looked  on  her  and  wondered ;  so 
innocent  and  healthy  and  light-hearted  in  herself,  she 
could  not  even  dream  of  what  was  passing.  She  had 
been  brought  up  to  love  John  as  a  brother,  and  opened 
her  heart  at  once  to  his  wife  with  a  sweet  and  loyal 
faithfulness.  When  she  told  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  that 
Mrs.  John  Seymour  was  one  of  her  friends  from  Spring- 
dale,  married  into  a  family  with  which  she  had  grown 
up  with  great  intimacy,  it  seemed  the  most  natural 


248  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYEANNY. 

thing  in  the  world  to  the  good  lady  that  Rose  should 
want  to  visit  her ;  that  she  should  drive  with  her,  and 
call  on  her,  and  receive  her  at  their  house ;  and  with 
her  of  course  must  come  Mrs.  Follingsbee. 

Mr.  Van  Astrachan  made  a  dead  halt  at  the  idea  of 
Dick  Follingsbee.  He  never  would  receive  that  man 
under  his  roof,  he  said,  and  he  never  would  enter  his 
house  ;  and  when  Mr.  Van  Astrachan  once  said  a  thing 
of  this  kind,  as  Mr.  Hosea  Biglow  remarks,  "  a  meeting 
house  wasn't  sotter." 

But  then  Mrs.  Follingsbee's  situation  was  confiden 
tially  stated  to  Lillie,  and  by  Lillie  confidentially  stated 
to  Rose,  and  by  Rose  to  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan ;  and  it 
was  made  to  appear  how  Dick  Follingsbee  had  entirely 
abandoned  his  wife,  going  off  in  the  ways  of  Balaam 
the  son  of  Bosor,  and  all  other  bad  ways  mentioned  in 
Scripture,  habitually  leaving  poor  Mrs.  Follingsbee  to 
entertain  company  alone,  so  that  he  was  never  seen  at 
her  parties,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  her. 

"  So  much  the  better  for  them,"  remarked  Mr.  Van 
Astrachan. 

"  In  that  case,  my  dear,  I  don't  see  that  it  would  do 
any  harm  for  you  to  go  to  Mrs.  Follingsbee's  party  on 
Rose's  account.  I  never  go  to  parties,  as  you  know ; 
and  I  certainly  should  not  begin  by  going  there.  But 
still  I  see  no  objection  to  your  taking  Rose." 

If  Mr.  Van  Astrachan  had  seen  objections,  you  never 
would  have  caught  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  going ;  for  she 
was  one  of  your  full-blooded  women,  who  never  in  her 
life  engaged  to  do  a  thing  she  didn't  mean  to  do  :  and 


THE   VAN  ASTRACHANS.  249 

having  promised  in  the  marriage  service  to  obey  her 
husband,  she  obeyed  him  plumb,  with  the  air  of  a 
person  who  is  fulfilling  the  prophecies ;  though  her 
chances  in  this  way  were  very  small,  as  Mr.  Van  Astra- 
chan  generally  called  her  "ma,"  and  obeyed  all  her 
orders  with  a  stolid  precision  quite  edifying  to  behold. 
He  took  her  advice  always,  and  was  often  heard  naively 
to  remark  that  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  and  he  were  always 
of  the  same  opinion,  —  an  expression  happily  defining 
that  state  in  which  a  man  does  just  what  his  wife  tells 
him  to. 


CHAPTER   XXL 

MRS.  FOLLINGSBEE'S   PARTY,    AND    WHAT 
CAME    OF   IT. 


vulgar  idea  of  a  party  is  a  week  or  fortnight 
of  previous  discomfort  and  chaotic  tergiversa 
tion,  and  the  mistress  of  it  all  distracted  and  worn  out 
with  endless  cares.  Such  a  party  bursts  in  on  a 
well-ordered  family  state  as  a  bomb  bursts  into  a  city, 
leaving  confusion  and  disorder  all  around.  But  it 
would  be  a  pity  if  such  a  life-long  devotion  to  the 
arts  and  graces  as  Mrs.  Follingsbee  had  given,  backed 
by  Dick  Follingsbee's  fabulous  fortune,  and  admin 
istered  by  the  exquisite  Charlie  Ferrola,  should  not 
have  brought  forth  some  appreciable  results.  One  was, 
that  the  great  Castle  of  Indolence  was  prepared  for  the 
fete,  with  no  more  ripple  of  disturbance  than  if  it 
had  been  a  Nereid's  bower,  far  down  beneath  the  reach 
of  tempests,  where  the  golden  sand  is  never  ruffled,  and 
the  crimson  and  blue  sea  flowers  never  even  dream 
of  commotion. 

Charlie  Ferrola  wore,  it  is  true,  a  brow  somewhat 
oppressed  with  care,  and  was  kept  tucked  up  on  a  rose- 
colored  satin  sofa,  and  served  with  lachrymae  Christi, 


MRS.  FOLLINGSBE&S  PARTY.  251 

and  Montefiascone,  and  all  other  substitutes  for  the 
dews  of  Hybla,  while  he  draughted  designs  for  the 
floral  arrangements,  which  were  executed  by  obsequious 
attendants  in  felt  slippers;  and  the  whole  process  of 
arrangement  proceeded  like  a  dream  of  the  lotus-eaters' 
paradise. 

Madame  de  Tullegig  was  of  course  retained  primarily 
for  the  adornment  of  Mrs.  Follingsbee's  person.  It 
was  understood,  however,  on  this  occasion,  that  the 
composition  of  the  costumes  was  to  embrace  both  hers 
and  Lillie's,  that  they  might  appear  in  a  contrasted 
tableau,  and  bring  out  each  other's  points.  It  was  a 
subject  worthy  a  Parisian  artiste,  and  drew  so  seriously 
on  Madame  de  Tullegig's  brain-power,  that  she  assured 
Mrs.  Follingsbee  afterwards  that  the  effort  of  com 
position  had  sensibly  exhausted  her. 

Before  we  relate  the  events  of  that  evening,  as  they 
occurred,  we  must  give  some  little  idea  of  the  position 
in  which  the  respective  parties  now  stood. 

Harry  Endicott,  by  his  mother's  side,  was  related 
to  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan.  Mr.  Van  Astrachan  had  been, 
in  a  certain  way,  guardian  to  him;  and  his  success  in 
making  his  fortune  was  in  consequence  of  capital  ad 
vanced  and  friendly  patronage  thus  accorded.  In  the 
family,  therefore,  he  had  the  entree  of  a  son,  and 
had  enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  seeing  Rose  with  a 
freedom  and  frequency  that  soon  placed  them  on  the 
footing  of  old  acquaintanceship.  Rose  was  an  easy 
person  to  become  acquainted  with  in  an  ordinary  and 
superficial  manner.  She  was  like  those  pellucid  waters 


252  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

whose  great  clearness  deceives  the  eye  as  to  their 
depth.  Her  manners  had  an  easy  and  gracious  frank 
ness  ;  and  she  spoke  right  on,  with  an  apparent  simplicity 
and  fearlessness  that  produced  at  first  the  impression 
that  you  knew  all  her  heart.  A  longer  acquaintance, 
however,  developed  depths  of  reserved  thought  and 
feeling  far  beyond  what  at  first  appeared. 

Harry,  at  first,  had  met  her  only  on  those  superficial 
grounds  of  banter  and  badinage  where  a  gay  young 
gentleman  and  a  gay  young  lady  may  reconnoitre,  be 
fore  either  side  gives  the  other  the  smallest  peep  of  the 
key  of  what  Dr.  Holmes  calls  the  side-door  of  their 
hearts. 

Harry,  to  say  the  truth,  was  in  a  bad  way  when 
he  first  knew  Rose :  he  was  restless,  reckless,  bitter. 
Turned  loose  into  society  with  an  ample  fortune  and 
nothing  to  do,  he  was  in  danger,  according  to  the 
homely  couplet  of  Dr.  Watts,  of  being  provided  with 
employment  by  that  undescribable  personage  who 
makes  it  his  business  to  look  after  idle  hands. 

Rose  had  attracted  him  first  by  her  beauty,  all  the 
more  attractive  to  him  because  in  a  style  entirely  dif 
ferent  from  that  which  hitherto  had  captivated  his  im- 


agination.  Rose  was  tall,  well-knit,  and  graceful,  and 
bore  herself  with  a  sort  of  slender  but  majestic  light 
ness,  like  a  meadow-lily.  Her  well-shaped,  classical  head 
was  set  finely  on  her  graceful  neck,  and  she  had  a  stag- 
like  way  of  carrying  it,  that  impressed  a  stranger  some 
times  as  haughty  ;  but  Rose  could  not  help  that,  it  was 
a  trick  of  nature.  -  Her  hair  was  of  the  glossiest  black, 


MBS.   FOLLINGSBE&S  PARTY.  253 

her  skin  fair  as  marble,  her  nose  a  little,  nicely-turned 
aquiline  affair,  her  eyes  of  a  deep  violet  blue  and  shad 
owed  by  long  dark  lashes,  her  mouth  a  little  larger  than 
the  classical  proportion,  but  generous  in  smiles  and 
laughs  which  revealed  perfect  teeth  of  dazzling  white 
ness.  There,  gentlemen  and  ladies,  is  Rose  Ferguson's 
picture :  and,  if  you  add  to  all  this  the  most  attractive 
/impulsiveness  and  self-unconsciousness,  you  will  not 
wonder  that  Harry  Endicott  at  first  found  himself 
admiring  her,  and  fancied  driving  out  with  her  in  the 
park;  and  that  when  admiring  eyes  followed  them 
both,  as  a  handsome  pair,  Harry  was  well  pleased. 

Rose,  too,  liked  Harry  Endicott.  A  young  girl  of 
twenty  is  not  a  severe  judge  of  a  handsome,  lively 
young  man,  who  knows  far  more  of  the  world  than  she 
does ;  and  though  Harry's  conversation  was  a  perfect 
Catherine-wheel  of  all  sorts  of  wild  talk,  —  sneering, 
bitter,  and  sceptical,  and  giving  expression  to  the  most 
heterodox  sentiments,  with  the  evident  intention  of 
shocking  respectable  authorities,  —  Rose  rather  liked 
him  than  otherwise ;  though  she  now  and  then  took  the 
liberty  to  stand  upon  her  dignity,  and  opened  her  great 
blue  eyes  on  him  with  a  grave,  inquiring  look  of  sur 
prise,  —  a ,  look  that  seemed  to  challenge  him  to  stand 
and  defend  himself.  From  time  to  time,  too,  she  let 
fall  little  bits  of  independent  opinion,  well  poised  and 
well  turned,  that  hit  exactly  where  she  meant  they 
should;  and  Harry  began  to  stand  a  little  in  awe 
of  her. 

Harry  had  never  known  a  woman  like  Rose ;  a  wo- 


254  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

man  so  poised  and  self-centred,  so  cultivated,  so  capable 
of  deep  and  just  reflections,  and  so  religious.  His  expe 
rience  with  women  had  not  been  fortunate,  as  has  been 
seen  in  this  narrative ;  and,  insensibly  to  himself,  Rose 
was  beginning  to  exercise  an  influence  over  him.  The 
sphere  around  her  was  cool  and  bright  and  wholesome, 
as  different  from  the  hot  atmosphere  of  passion  and 
sentiment  and  flirtation  to  which  he  had  been  accus 
tomed,  as  a  New-England  summer  morning  from  a 
sultry  night  in  the  tropics.  Her  power  over  him  was 
in  the  appeal  to  a  wholly  different  part  of  his  nature,  — 
intellect,  conscience,  and  religious  sensibility  ;  and  once 
or  twice  he  found  himself  speaking  to  her  quietly,  seri 
ously,  and  rationally,  not  from  the  purpose  of  pleasing 
her,  but  because  she  had  aroused  such  a  strain  of  thought 
in  his  own  mind.  There  was  a  certain  class  of  brilliant 
sayings  of  his,  of  a  cleverly  irreligious  and  sceptical 
nature,  at  which  Hose  never  laughed :  when  this  sort  of 
firework  was  let  off  in  her  presence,  she  opened  her 
eyes  upon  him,  wide  and  blue,  with  a  calm  surprise 
intermixed  with  pity,  but  said  nothing;  and,  after  try 
ing  the  experiment  several  times,  he  gradually  felt  this 
silent  kind  of  look  a  restraint  upon  him. 

At  the  same  time,  it  must  not  be  conjectured  that,  at 
present,  Harry  Endicott  was  thinking  of  falling  in  love 
with  Rose.  In  fact,  he  scoffed  at  the  idea  of  love, 
and  professed  to  disbelieve  in  its  existence.  And, 
beside  all  this,  he  was  gratifying  an  idle  vanity,  and 
the  wicked  love  of  revenge,  in  visiting  Lillie;  some 
times  professing  for  days  an  exclusive  devotion  to  her, 


MRS.  FOLLINQSBE&8  PARTY.  255 

in  which  there  was  a  little  too  much  reality  on  both 
sides  to  be  at  all  safe  or  innocent ;  and  then,  when  he 
had  wound  her  up  to  the  point  where  even  her  invol 
untary  looks  and  words  and  actions  towards  him  must 
have  compromised  her  in  the  eyes  of  others,  he  would 
suddenly  recede  for  days,  and  devote  himself  exclu 
sively  to  Rose ;  driving  ostentatiously  with  her  in  the 
park,  where  he  would  meet  Lillie  face  to  face,  and  bow 
triumphantly  to  her  in  passing.  All  these  proceed 
ings,  talked  over  with  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  seemed  to 
give  promise  of  the  most  impassioned  French  romance 
possible. 

Rose  walked  through  all  her  part  in  this  little  drama, 
wrapped  in  a  veil  of  sacred  ignorance.  Had  she  known 
the  whole,  the  probability  is  that  she  would  have  re 
fused  Harry's  acquaintance;  but,  like  many  another 
nice  girl,  she  tripped  gayly  near  to  pitfalls  and  chasms 
of  which  she  had  not  the  remotest  conception. 

Lillie' s  want  of  self-control,  and  imprudent  conduct, 
had  laid  her  open  to  reports  in  certain  circles  where 
such  reports  find  easy  credence ;  but  these  were  circles 
with  which  the  Van  Astrachans  never  mingled.  The 
only  accidental  point  of  contact  was  the  intimacy  of 
Rose  with  the  Seymour  family ;  and  Rose  was  the  last 
person  to  understand  an  allusion  if  she  heard  it.  The 
reading  of  Rose  had  been  carefully  selected  by  her 
father,  and  had  not  embraced  any  novels  of  the  French 
romantic  school;  neither  had  she,  like  some  modern 
young  ladies,  made  her  mind  a  highway  for  the  tramp 
ing  of  every  kind  of  possible  fictitious  character  which 


256  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

a  novelist  might  choose  to  draw,  nor  taken  an  interest^ 
in  the  dissections  of  morbid  anatomy.  In  fact,  she  was 
old-fashioned  enough  to  like  Scott's  novels ;  and  though 
she  was  just  the  kind  of  girl  Thackeray  would  have 
loved,  she  never  could  bring  her  fresh  young  heart  to 
enjoy  his  pictures  of  world- worn  and  decaying  natures. 

The  idea  of  sentimental  flirtations  and  love-making 
on  the  part  of  a  married  woman  was  one  so  beyond  her 
conception  of  possibilities  that  it  would  have  been  very 
difficult  to  make  her  understand  or  believe  it. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Follingsbee  party,  therefore, 
Rose  accepted  Harry  as  an  escort  in  simple  good  faith. 
She  was  by  no  means  so  wise  as  not  to  have  a  deal  of 
curiosity  about  it,  and  not  a  little  of  dazed  and  dazzled 
sense  of  enjoyment  in  prospect  of  the  perfect  labyrinth 
of  fairy-land  which  the  Follingsbee  mansion  opened 
before  her. 

On  the  eventful  evening,  Mrs.  Follingsbee  and  Lillie 
stood  together  to  receive  their  guests,  —  the  former  in 
gold  color,  with  magnificent  point  lace  and  diamond 
tiara;  while  Lillie  in  heavenly  blue,  with  wreaths  of 
misty  tulle  and  pearl  ornaments,  seemed  like  a  filmy 
cloud  by  the  setting  Bun. 

Rose,  entering  on  Harry  Endicott's  arm,  in  the  full 
bravery  of  a  well-chosen  toilet,  caused  a  buzz  of  admira 
tion  which  followed  them  through  the  rooms ;  but  Rose 
was  nothing  to  the  illuminated  eyes  of  Mrs.  Follingsbee 
compared  with  the  portly  form  of  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan 
entering  beside  her,  and  spreading  over  her  the  wings 
of  motherly  protection.  That  much-desired  matron, 


MRS.   FOLLINGSBEKS  PARTY. 


257 


serene  in  her  point  lace  and  diamonds,  beamed  around 
her  with  an  innocent  kindliness,  shedding  respectability 
wherever  she  moved,  as  a  certain  Russian  prince  was 
said  to  shed  diamonds. 


11  Rose,  entering  on  Harry  Endicott's  arm." 

"  Why,  that  is  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan ! " 
"  You  don't  tell  me  so !     Is  it  possible  ?  " 
"  Which  ?  "     «  Where  is  she  ?  "     "  How  in  the  world 
did  she  get  here  ? "  were  the  whispered  remarks  that 

17 


258  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

followed  her  wherever  she  moved ;  and  Mrs.  Follings- 
bee,  looking  after  her,  could  hardly  suppress  an  exulting 
Te  Deum.  It  was  done,  and  couldn't  be  undone. 

Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  might  not  appear  again  at  a 
salon  of  hers  for  a  year ;  but  that  could  not  do  away 
the  patent  fact,  witnessed  by  so  many  eyes,  that  she 
had  been  there  once.  Just  as  a  modern  newspaper  or 
magazine  wants  only  one  article  of  a  celebrated  author 
to  announce  him  as  among  their  stated  contributors  for 
all  time,  and  to  flavor  every  subsequent  issue  of  the 
journal  with  expectancy,  so  Mrs.  Follingsbee  exulted 
in  the  idea  that  this  one  evening  would  flavor  all  her 
receptions  for  the  winter,  whether  the  good  lady's 
diamonds  ever  appeared  there  again  or  not.  In  her 
secret  heart,  she  always  had  the  perception,  when  striv 
ing  to  climb  up  on  this  kind  of  ladder,  that  the  time 
might  come  when  she  should  be  found  out;  and  she 
well  knew  the  absolute  and  uncomprehending  horror 
with  which  that  good  lady  would  regard  the  French 
principles  and  French  practice  of  which  Charlie  Ferrola 
and  Co.  were  the  expositors  and  exemplars. 

This  was  what  Charlie  Ferrola  meant  when  he  said 
that  the  Van  Astrachans  were  obtuse.  They  never 
could  be  brought  to  the  niceties  of  moral  perspective 
which  show  one  exactly  where  to  find  the  vanishing 
point  for  every  duty. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  there,  at  any  rate,  she  was,  safe 
and  sound ;  surrounded  by  people  whom  she  had  never 
met  before,  and  receiving  introductions  to  the  right  and 
left  with  the  utmost  graciousness.  The  arrangements 


MRS.  FOLLINGSBEE'S  PARTY. 


259 


for  the  evening  had  been  made  at  the  tea-table  of  the 
Van  Astrachans  with  an  innocent  and  trustful  sim 
plicity. 

"You  know,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  to 
Rose,  "  that  I  never  like  to  stay  long  away  from  papa " 
(so  the  worthy  lady  called  her  husband);  "and  so,  if 
it's  just  the  same  to  you,  you  shall  let  me  have  the 
carriage  come  for  me  early,  and  then  you  and  Harry 
shall  be  left  free  to  see  it  out.  I  know  young  folks 
must  be  young,"  she  said,  with  a  comfortable  laugh. 
"  There  was  a  time,  dear,  when  my  waist  was  not  bigger 


THE  VAN  ASTRACHANS. 


than  yours,  that  I  used  to  dance  all  night  with  the  best 
of  them;  but  I've  got  bravely  over  that  now." 

"  Yes,  Rose,"  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan,  "  you  mayn't 


260  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

believe  it,  but  ma  there  was  the  spryest  dancer  of 
any  of  the  girls.  You  are  pretty  nice  to  look  at,  but 
you  don't  quite  come  up  to  what  she  was  in  those  days. 
I  tell  you,  I  wish  you  could  have  seen  her,"  said  the 
good  man,  warming  to  his  subject.  "Why,  I've  seen 
the  time  when  every  fellow  on  the  floor  was  after  her." 

"Papa,"  says  Mrs.  Yan  Astrachan,  reprovingly,  "I 
wouldn't  say  such  things  if  I  were  you." 

"  Yes,  I  would,"  said  Rose.  "  Do  tell  us,  Mr.  Van 
Astrachan." 

"  Well,  I'll  tell  you,"  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan :  "  you 
ought  to  have  seen  her  in  a  red  dress  she  used  to 
wear." 

"  Oh,  come,  papa !  what  nonsense !  Rose,  I  never 
wore  a  red  dress  in  my  life ;  it  was  a  pink  silk ;  but  you 
know  men  never  do  know  the  names  for  colors." 

"  Well,  at  any  rate,"  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan,  hardily, 
"  pink  or  red,  no  matter ;  but  I  '11  tell  you,  she  took  all 
before  her  that  evening.  There  were  Stuyvesants  and 
Van  Rennselaers  and  Livingstons,  and  all  sorts  of  grand 
fellows,  in  her  train;  but,  somehow,  I  cut  'em  out. 
There  is  no  such  dancing  nowadays  as  there  was  when 
wife  and  I  were  young.  I  've  been  caught  once  or  twice 
in  one  of  their  parties ;  and  I  don't  call  it  dancing.  I 
call  it  draggle-tailing.  They  don't  take  any  steps,  and 
there  is  no  spirit  in  it." 

"  Well,"  said  Rose,  "  I  know  we  moderns  are  very 
much  to  be  pitied.  Papa  always  tells  me  the  same  story 
about  mamma,  and  the  days  when  he  was  young.  But, 
dear  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan,  I  hope  you  won't  stay  a  mo- 


MBS.   FOLLING SBEE'S  PAETT.  261 

ment,  on  my  account,  after  you  get  tired.  I  suppose  if 
you  are  just  seen  with  me  there  in  the  beginning  of  the 
evening,  it  will  matronize  me  enough ;  and  then  I  have 
engaged  to  dance  the  'German'  with  Mr.  Endicott, 
and  I  believe  they  keep  that  up  till  nobody  knows  when. 
But  I  am  determined  to  see  the  whole  through." 

"  Yes,  yes !  see  it  all  through,"  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan. 
"Young  people  must  be  young.  It's  all  right  enough, 
and  you  won't  miss  my  Polly  after  you  get  fairly  into 
it  near  so  much  as  I  shall.  I  '11  sit  up  for  her  till  twelve 
o'clock,  and  read  my  paper." 

Rose  was  at  first,  to  say  the  truth,  bewildered  and 
surprised  by  the  perfect  labyrinth  of  fairy-land  which 
Charlie  Ferrola's  artistic  imagination)  had  created  in  the 
Follingsbee  mansion. 

Initiated  people,  who  had  travelled  in  Europe,  said  it 
put  them  in  mind  of  the  "  Jardin  Mabille ; "  and  those 
who  had  not  were  reminded  of  some  of  the  wonders  of 
"The  Black  Crook."  There  were  apartments  turned 
into  bowers  and  grottoes,  where  the  gas-light  shim 
mered  behind  veils  of  falling  water,  and  through  pen 
dant  leaves  of  all  sorts  of  strange  water-plants  of 
tropical  regions.  There  were  all  those  wonderful  leaf- 
plants  of  every  weird  device  of  color,  which  have  been 
conjured  up  by  tricks  of  modern  gardening,  as  Rappa- 
cini  is  said  to  have  created  his  strange  garden  in  Padua. 
There  were  beds  of  hyacinths  and  crocuses  and  tulips, 
made  to  appear  like  living  gems  by  the  jets  of  gas-light 
which  came  up  among  them  in  glass  flowers  of  the  same 
form.  Far  away  in  recesses  were  sofas  of  soft  green 


262  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

velvet  turf,  overshadowed  by  trailing  vines,  and  illu 
minated  with  moonlight  -  softness  by  hidden  alabaster 
lamps.  The  air  was  heavy  with  the  perfume  of  flow 
ers,  and  the  sound  of  music  and  dancing  from  the  ball 
room  came  to  these  recesses  softened  by  distance. 

The  Follingsbee  mansion  occupied  a  whole  square  of 
the  city ;  and  these  enchanted  bowers  were  created  by 
temporary  enlargements  of  the  conservatory  covering 
the  ground  of  the  garden.  With  money,  and  the  Cro- 
ton  Water-works,  and  all  the  New- York  greenhouses 
at  disposal,  nothing  was  impossible. 

There  was  in  this  reception  no  vulgar  rush  or  crush 
or  jam.  The  apartments  opened  were  so  extensive, 
and  the  attractions  in  so  many  different  directions,  that 
there  did  not  appear  to  be  a  crowd  anywhere. 

There  was  no  general  table  set,  with  the  usual  liabili 
ties  of  rush  and  crush;  but  four  or  five  well-kept  rooms, 
fragrant  with  flowers  and  sparkling  with  silver  and  crys 
tal,  were  ready  at  any  hour  to  minister  to  the  guest 
whatever  delicacy  or  dainty  he  or  she  might  demand; 
and  light-footed  waiters  circulated  with  noiseless  obse 
quiousness  through  all  the  rooms,  proffering  dainties  on 
silver  trays. 

Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  and  Rose  at  first  found  them 
selves  walking  everywhere,  with  a  fresh  and  lively 
interest.  It  was  something  quite  out  of  the  line  of  the 
good  lady's  previous  experience,  and  so  different  from 
any  thing  she  had  ever  seen  before,  as  to  keep  her  in  a 
state  of  placid  astonishment.  Rose,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  delighted  and  excited ;  the  more  so  that  she  could 


MBS.   FOLLINQ8BE&8  PAETY.  263 

not  help  perceiving  that  she  herself  amid  all  these 
objects  of  beauty  was  followed  by  the  admiring  glances 
of  many  eyes. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  a  girl  so  handsome  as 
Rose  comes  to  her  twentieth  year  without  having  the 
pretty  secret  made  known  to  her  in  more  ways  than 
one,  or  that  thus  made  known  it  is  any  thing  but  agree 
able  ;  but,  on  the  present  occasion,  there  was  a  buzz  of 
inquiry  and  a  crowd  of  applicants  about  her ;  and  her 
dancing-list  seemed  in  a  fair  way  to  be  soon  filled  up 
for  the  evening,  Harry  telling  her  laughingly  that  he 
would  let  her  off  from  every  thing  but  the  "  German ;  " 
but  that  she  might  consider  her  engagement  with  him 
as  a  standing  one  whenever  troubled  with  an  applica 
tion  which  for  any  reason  she  did  not  wish  to  accept. 

Harry  assumed  towards  Rose  that  air  of  brotherly 
guardianship  which  a  young  man  who  piques  himself  on 
having  seen  a  good  deal  of  the  world  likes  to  take  with 
a  pretty  girl  who  knows  less  of  it.  Besides,  he  rather 
valued  himself  on  having  brought  to  the  reception  the 
most  brilliant  girl  of  the  evening. 

Our  friend  Lillie,.  however,  was  in  her  own  way  as 
entrancingly  beautiful  this  evening  as  the  most  perfect 
mortal  flesh  and  blood  could  be  made ;  and  Harry  went 
back  to  her  when  Rose  went  off  with  her  partners  as  a 
moth  flies  to  a  candle,  not  with  any  express  intention 
of  burning  his  wings,  but  simply  because  he  likes  to  be 
dazzled,  and  likes  the  bitter  excitement.  He  felt  now 
that  he  had  power  over  her,  —  a  bad,  a  dangerous  power 
he  knew,  with  what  of  conscience  was  left  in  him ;  but 


264  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

he  thought,  "  Let  her  take  her  own  risk."  And  so,  many 
busy  gossips  saw  the  handsome  young  man,  his  great 
dark  eyes  kindled  with  an  evil  light,  whirling  in  dizzy 
mazes  with  this  cloud  of  flossy  mist;  out  of  which 
looked  up  to  him  an  impassioned  woman's  face,  and 
eyes  that  said  what  those  eyes  had  no  right  to  say. 

There  are  times,  in  such  scenes  of  bewilderment, 
when  women  are  as  truly  out  of  their  own  control  by 
nervous  excitement  as  if  the'y  were  intoxicated ;  and 
Lillie's  looks  and  words  and  actions  towards  Harry  were 
as  open  a  declaration  of  her  feelings  as  if  she  had  spoken 
them  aloud  to  every  one  present. 

The  scandals  about  them  were  confirmed  in  the  eyes 
of  every  one  that  looked  on  ;  for  there  were  plenty  of 
people  present  in  whose  view  of  things  the  worst  possi 
ble  interpretation  was  the  most  probable  one. 

Rose  was  in  the  way,  during  the  course  of  the  even 
ing,  of  hearing  remarks  of  the  most  disagreeable  and 
startling  nature  with  regard  to  the  relations  of  Harry 
and  Lillie  to  each  other.  They  filled  her  with  a  sort  of 
horror,  as  if  she  had  come  to  an  unwholesome  place ; 
while  she  indignantly  repelled  them  from  her  thoughts, 
as  every  uncontaminated  woman  will  the  first  suspicion 
of  the  purity  of  a  sister  woman.  In  Rose's  view  it  was 
monstrous  and  impossible.  Yet  when  she  stood  at 
one  time  in  a  group  to  see  them  waltzing,  she  started, 
and  felt  a  cold  shudder,  as  a  certain  instinctive  convic 
tion  of  something  not  right  forced  itself  on  her.  She 
closed  her  eyes,  and  wished  herself  away ;  wished  that 
she  had  not  let  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  go  home  without 


MRS.  FOLLINGSBE&S  PARTY.  265 

her ;  wished  that  somebody  would  speak  to  Lillie  and 
caution  her ;  felt  an  indignant  rising  of  her  heart  against 
Harry,  and  was  provoked  at  herself  that  she  was  en 
gaged  to  him  for  the  "  German." 

She  turned  away ;  and,  taking  the  arm  of  the  gentle 
man  with  her,  complained  of  the  heat  as  oppressive, 
and  they  sauntered  off  together  into  the  bowery  region 
beyond. 

"  Oh,  now !  where  can  I  have  left  my  fan  ?  "  she  said, 
suddenly  stopping. 

"  Let  me  go  back  and  get  it  for  you,"  said  he  of  the 
whiskers  who  attended  her.  It  was  one  of  the  dancing 
young  men  of  New  York,  and  it  is  no  particular  matter 
what  his  name  was. 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Rose :  "  I  believe  I  left  it  on  the 
sofa  in  the  yellow  drawing-room."  He  was  gone  in  a 
moment. 

Rose  wandered  on  a  little  way,  through  the  labyrinth 
of  flowers  and  shadowy  trees  and  fountains,  and  sat 
down  on  an  artificial  rock  where  she  fell  into  a  deep 
reverie.  Rising  to  go  back,  she  missed  her  way,  and 
became  quite  lost,  and  went  on  uneasily,  conscious  that 
she  had  committed  a  rudeness  in  not  waiting  for  her 
attendant. 

At  this  moment  she  looked  through  a  distant  alcove 
of  shrubbery,  and  saw  Harry  and  Lillie  standing 
together,  —  she  with  both  hands  laid  upon  his  arm, 
looking  up  to  him  and  speaking  rapidly  with  an 
imploring  accent.  She  saw  him,  with  an  angry  frown, 
push  Lillie  from  him  so  rudely  that  she  almost  fell 


266 


PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 


backward,  and  sat  down  with  her  handkerchief  to  her 
eyes ;  he  came  forward  hurriedly,  and  met  the  eyes  of 
Rose  fixed  upon  him. 


"  She  saw  him,  with  an  angry  frown,  push  Lillie  from  him." 

"  Mr.  Endicott,"  she  said,  "  I  have  to  ask  a  favor  of 
you.  Will  you  be  so  good  as  to  excuse  me  from  the 
4  German '  to-night,  and  order  my  carriage  ?  " 

"Why,  Miss  Ferguson,  what  is  the  matter?"  he 
said:  "what  has  come  over  you?  I  hope  I  have  not 
had  the  misfortune  to  do  any  thing  to  displease  you  ?  " 


MRS.  FOLLINQ8BE&8  PARTY.  267 

Without  replying  to  this,  Rose  answered,  "  I  feel  very 
unwell.  My  head  is  aching  violently,  and  I  cannot  go 
through  the  rest  of  the  evening.  I  must  go  home  at 
once."  She  spoke  it  in  a  decided  tone  that  admitted 
of  no  question. 

Without  answer,  Harry  Endicott  gave  her  his  arm, 
accompanied  her  through  the  final  leave-takings,  went 
with  her  to  the  carriage,  put  her  in,  and  sprang  in  after 
her. 

Rose  sank  back  on  her  seat,  and  remained  perfectly 
silent ;  and  Harry,  after  a  few  remarks  of  his  had  failed 
to  elicit  a  reply,  rode  by  her  side  equally  silent  through 
the  streets  homeward. 

He  had  Mr.  Van  Astrachan's  latch-key ;  and,  when 
the  carriage  stopped,  he  helped  Rose  to  alight,  and 
went  up  the  steps  of  the  house. 

"  Miss  Ferguson,"  he  said  abruptly,  "  I  have  some 
thing  I  want  to  say  to  you." 

"  Not  now,  not  to-night,"  said  Rose,  hurriedly.  "  I 
am  too  tired ;  and  it  is  too  late." 

"  To-morrow  then,"  he  said :  "  I  shall  call  when  you 
will  have  had  time  to  be  rested.  Good-night ! " 


CHAPTER  XXII. 
THE  SPIDER-WEB  BROKEN. 

T  TARRY  did  not  go  back,  to  lead  the  "  German,"  as 
-*•-!•  he  had  been  engaged  to  do.  In  fact,  in  his  last 
apologies  to  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  he  had  excused  himself 
on  account  of  his  partner's  sudden  indisposition, — 
a  thing  which  made  no  small  buzz  and  commotion  ; 
though  the  missing  gap,  like  all  gaps  great  and  little  in 
human  society,  soon  found  somebody  to  step  into  it :  and 
the  dance  went  on  just  as  gayly  as  if  they  had  been  there. 

Meanwhile,  there  were  in  this  good  city  of  New  York 
a  couple  of  sleepless  individuals,  revolving  many  things 
uneasily  during  the  night-watches,  or  at  least  that  por 
tion  of  the  night-watches  that  remained  after  they 
reached  home,  —  to  wit,  Mr.  Harry  Endicott  and  Miss 
Rose  Ferguson. 

What  had  taken  place  in  that  little  scene  between 
Lillie  and  Harry,  the  termination  of  which  was  seen  by 
Rose  ?  We  are  not  going  to  give  a  minute  description. 
The  public  has  already  been  circumstantially  instructed 
by  such  edifying  books  as  "  Cometh  up  as  a  Flower," 
and  others  of  a  like  turn,  in  what  manner  and  in  what 
terms  married  women  can  abdicate  the  dignity  of  their 


THE  SPIDER-WEB  BROKEN.  269 

sex,  and  degrade  themselves  so  far  as  to  offer  their 
whole  life,  and  their  whole  selves,  to  some  reluctant  man, 
with  too  much  remaining  conscience  or  prudence  to 
accept  the  sacrifice. 

It  was  from  some  such  wild,  passionate  utterances 
of  Lillie  that  Harry  felt  a  recoil  of  mingled  conscience, 
fear,  and  that  disgust  which  man  feels  when  she,  whom 
God  made  to  be  sought,  degrades  herself  to  seek. 
There  is  no  edification  and  no  propriety  in  highly 
colored  and  minute  drawing  of  such  scenes  of  temp 
tation  and  degradation,  though  they  are  the  stock 
and  staple  of  some  French  novels,  and  more  disgust 
ing  English  ones  made  on  their  model.  Harry  felt 
in  his  own  conscience  that  he  had  been  acting  a 
most  unworthy  part,  that  no  advances  on  the  part 
of  Lillie  could  excuse  his  conduct ;  and  his  thoughts 
went  back  somewhat  regretfully  to  the  days  long  ago, 
when  she  was  a  fair,  pretty,  innocent  girl,  and  he  had 
loved  her  honestly  and  truly.  Unperceived  by  him 
self,  the  character  of  Rose  was  exerting  a  powerful 
influence  over  him ;  and,  when  he  met  that  look  of  pain 
and  astonishment  which  he  had  seen  in  her  large  blue 
eyes  the  night  before,  it  seemed  to  awaken  many  things 
within  him.  It  is  astonishing  how  blindly  people  some 
times  go  on  as  to  the  character  of  their  own  conduct, 
till  suddenly,  like  a  torch  in  a  dark  place,  the  light  of 
another  person's  opinion  is  thrown  in  upon  them,  and 
they  begin  to  judge  themselves  under  the  quickening 
influence  of  another  person's  moral  magnetism.  Then, 
indeed,  it  often  happens  that  the  graves  give  up  their 


O-M/UXX 

270         PINK  AND  WHITE  TYRANNY. 

dead,  and  that  there  is  a  sort  of  interior  resurrection 
and  judgment. 

Harry  did  not  seem  to  be  consciously  thinking  of  Rose, 
and  yet  the  undertone  of  all  that  night's  uneasiness  was 
a  something  that  had  been  roused  and  quickened  in  him 
by  his  acquaintance  with  her.  How  he  loathed  himself 
for  the  last  few  weeks  of  his  life !  How  he  loathed  that 
hot,  lurid,  murky  atmosphere  of  flirtation  and  passion 
and  French  sentimentality  in  which  he  had  been  living  ! 
—  atmosphere  as  hard  to  draw  healthy  breath  in  as  the 
odor  of  wilting  tuberoses  the  day  after  a  party. 

Harry  valued  Rose's  good  opinion  as  he  had  never 
valued  it  before ;  and,  as  he  thought  of  her  in  his 
restless  tossings,  she  seemed  to  him  something  as  pure, 
as  wholesome,  and  strong  as  the  air  of  his  native 
New-England  hills,  as  the  sweet-brier  and  sweet-fern 
he  used  to  love  to  gather  when  he  was  a  boy.  She 
seemed  of  a  piece  with  all  the  good  old  ways  of  New 
England,  —  its  household  virtues,  its  conscientious  sense 
of  right,  its  exact  moral  boundaries  ;  and  he  felt  some 
how  as  if  she  belonged  to  that  healthy  portion  of  his 
life  which  he  now  looked  back  upon  with  something  of 
regret. 

Then,  what  would  she  think  of  him  ?  They  had  been 
friends,  he  said  to  himself ;  they  had  passed  over  those 
-  boundaries  of  teasing  unreality  where  most  young 
gentlemen  and  young  ladies  are  content  to  hold  con 
verse  with  each  other,  and  had  talked  together  reason 
ably  and  seriously,  saying  in  some  hours  what  they 
really  thought  and  felt.  And  Rose  had  impressed  him 


THE   SPIDER-WEB  BROKEN.  271 

at  times  by  her  silence  and  reticence  in  certain  connec 
tions,  and  on  certain  subjects,  with  a  sense  of  something 
hidden  and  veiled,  —  a  reserved  force  that  he  longed  still 
further  to  penetrate.  But  now,  he  said  to  himself,  he 
must  have  fallen  in  her  opinion.  Why  was  she  so  cold, 
so  almost  haughty,  in  her  treatment  of  him  the  night 
before  ?  He  felt  in  the  atmosphere  around  her,  and  in 
the  touch  of  her  hand,  that  she  was  quivering  like  a 
galvanic  battery  with  the  suppressed  force  of  some 
powerful  emotion ;  and  his  own  conscience  dimly  inter 
preted  to  him  what  it  might  be. 

To  say  the  truth,  Rose  was  terribly  aroused.  And 
there  was  a  great  deal  in  her  to  be  aroused,  for  she 
had  a  strong  nature ;  and  the  whole  force  of  woman 
hood  in  her  had  never  received  such  a  shock. 

Whatever  may  be  scoffingly  said  of  the  readiness 
of  women  to  pull  one  another  down,  it  is  certain  that 
the  highest  class  of  them  have  the  feminine  esprit  de 
corps  immensely  strong.  The  humiliation  of  another 
woman  seems  to  them  their  own  humiliation;  and 
man's  lordly  contempt  for  another  woman  seems  like 
contempt  of  themselves. 

The  deepest  feeling  roused  in  Rose  by  the  scenes 
which  she  saw  last  night  was  concern  for  the  honor 
of  womanhood;  and  her  indignation  at  first  did  not 
strike  where  we  are  told  woman's  indignation  does, 
on  the  woman,  but  on  the  man.  Loving  John  Sey 
mour  as  a  brother  from  her  childhood,  feeling  in  the 
intimacy  in  which  they  had  grown  up  as  if  their 
families  had  been  one,  the  thoughts  that  had  been 


272  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYJRANNY. 

forced  upon  her  of  his  wife  the  night  before  had  struck 
to  her  heart  with  the  weight  of  a  terrible  affliction. 
She  judged  Lillie  as  a  pure  woman  generally  judges 
another,  —  out  of  herself,  —  and  could  not  and  would 
not  believe  that  the  gross  and  base  construction  which 
had  been  put  upon  her  conduct  was  the  true  one.  She 
looked  upon  her  as  led  astray  by  inordinate  vanity,  and 
the  hopeless  levity  of  an  undeveloped,  unreflecting 
habit  of  mind.  She  was  indignant  with  Harry  for  the 
part  that  he  had  taken  in  the  affair,  and  indignant 
and  vexed  with  herself  for  the  degree  of  freedom  and 
intimacy  which  she  had  been  suffering  to  grow  up 
between  him  and  herself.  Her  first  impulse  wras  to 
break  it  off  altogether,  and  have  nothing  more  to  say  to 
or  do  with  him.  She  felt  as  if  she  would  like  to  take 
the  short  course  which  young  girls  sometimes  take  out 
of  the  first  serious  mortification  or  trouble  in  their  life, 
and  run  away  from  it  altogether.  She  would  have 
liked  to  have  packed  her  trunk,  taken  her  seat  on  board 
the  cars,  and  gone  home  to  Springdale  the  next  day, 
and  forgotten  all  about  the  whole  of  it ;  but  then,  what 
should  she  say  to  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  ?  what  account 
could  she  give  for  the  sudden  breaking  up  of  her 
visit  ? 

Then,  there  was  Harry  going  to  call  on  her  the  next 
day !  What  ought  she  to  say  to  him  ?  On  the  whole, 
it  was  a  delicate  matter  for  a  young  girl  of  twenty 
to  manage  alone.  How  she  longed  to  have  the  counsel 
of  her  sister  or  her  mother !  She  thought  of  Mrs.  Van 
Astrachan ;  but  then,  again,  she  did  not  wish  to  disturb 


THE   SPIDER-WEB  BROKEN.  273 

that  good  lady's  pleasant,  confidential  relations  with 
Harry,  and  tell  tales  of  him  out  of  school :  so,  on  the 
whole,  she  had  a  restless  and  uncomfortable  night  of  it. 

Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  expressed  her  surprise  at  seeing 
Rose  take  her  place  at  the  breakfast-table  the  next 
morning.  "Dear  me!"  she  said,  "I  was  just  telling 
Jane  to  have  some  breakfast  kept  for  you.  I  had  no 
idea  of  seeing  you  down  at  this  time." 

"But,"  said  Rose,  "I  gave  out  entirely,  and  came 
away  only  an  hour  after  you  did.  The  fact  is,  we 
country  girls  can't  stand  this  sort  of  thing.  I  had  such 
a  terrible  headache,  and  felt  so  tired  and  exhausted, 
that  I  got  Mr.  Endicott  to  bring  me  away  before  the 
«  German.' " 

"  Bless  me !  "  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan ;  "why,  you're 
not  at  all  up  to  snuff !  Why,  Polly,  you  and  I  used  to 
stick  it  out  till  daylight!  didn't  we?" 

"Well,  you  see,  Mr.  Van  Astrachan,  I  hadn't  any 
body  like  you  to  stick  it  out  with,"  said  Rose.  "  Per 
haps  that  made  the  difference." 

"  Oh,  well,  now,  I  am  sure  there 's  our  Harry  !  I  am 
sure  a  girl  must  be  difficult,  if  he  doesn't  suit  her  for  a 
beau,"  said  the  good  gentleman. 

"  Oh,  Mr.  Endicott  is  all  well  enough !  "  said  Rose ; 
"  only,  you  observe,  not  precisely  to  me  what  you  were 
to  the  lady  you  call  Polly, — that's  all." 

"  Ha,  ha !  "  laughed  Mr.  Van  Astrachan.  "  Well,  to 
be  sure,  that  does  make  a  difference;  but  Harry's  a 
nice  fellow,  nice  fellow,  Miss  Rose :  not  many  fellows 
like  him,  as  I  think." 

18 


274  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

"Yes,  indeed,"  chimed  in  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan.  "I 
haven't  a  son  in  the  world  that  I  think  more  of  than 
I  do  of  Harry ;  he  has  such  a  good  heart." 

Now,  the  fact  was,  this  eulogistic  strain  that  the 
worthy  couple  were  very  prone  to  fall  into  in  speaking 
of  Harry  to  Rose  was  this  morning  most  especially 
annoying  to  her;  and  she  turned  the  subject  at  once, 
by  chattering  so  fluently,  and  with  such  minute  details 
of  description,  about  the  arrangements  of  the  rooms 
and  the  flowers  and  the  lamps  and  the  fountains  and 
the  cascades,  and  all  the  fairy-land  wonders  of  the 
Follingsbee  party,  that  the  good  pair  found  themselves 
constrained  to  be  listeners  during  the  rest  of  the  time 
devoted  to  the  morning  meal. 

It  will  be  found  that  good  young  ladies,  while  of 
course  they  have  all  the  innocence  of  the  dove,  do 
display  upon  emergencies  a  considerable  share  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  serpent.  And  on  this  same  mother  wit 
and  wisdom,  Rose  called  internally,  when  that  day, 
about  eleven  o'clock,  she  was  summoned  to  the  library, 
to  give  Harry  his  audience. 

Truth  to  say,  she  was  in  a  state  of  excited  woman 
hood  vastly  becoming  to  her  general  appearance,  and 
entered  the  library  with  flushed  cheeks  and  head  erect, 
like  one  prepared  to  stand  for  herself  and  for  her  sex. 

Harry,  however,  wore  a  mortified,  semi-penitential 
air,  that,  on  the  first  glance,  rather  mollified  her.  Still, 
however,  she  was  not  sufficiently  clement  to  give  him 
the  least  assistance  in  opening  the  conversation,  by  the 
suggestions  of  any  of  those  nice  little  oily  nothings  with 


THE   SPIDER-WEB  BROKEN.  275 

which  ladies,  when  in  a  gracious  mood,  can  smooth  the 
path  for  a  difficult  confession. 

She  sat  very  quietly,  with  her  hands  before  her,  while 
Harry  walked  tumultuously  up  and  down  the  room. 

"Miss  Ferguson,"  he  said  at  last,  abruptly,  "I  know 
you  are  thinking  ill  of  me." 

Miss  Ferguson  did  not  reply. 

"I  had  hoped,"  he  said,  "that  there  had  been  a 
little  something  more  than  mere  acquaintance  between 
us.  I  had  hoped  you  looked  upon  me  as  a  friend." 

"  I  did,  Mr.  Endicott,"  said  Rose. 

"  And  you  do  not  now  ?  " 

"I  cannot  say  that,"  she  said,  after  a  pause;  "but, 
Mr.  Endicott,  if  we  are  friends,  you  must  give  me 
the  liberty  to  speak  plainly." 

"That's  exactly  what  I  want  you  to  do!"  he  said 
impetuously ;  "  that  is  just  what  I  wish." 

"Allow  me  to  ask,  then,  if  you  are  an  early  friend 
and  family  connection  of  Mrs.  John  Seymour?  " 

"I  was  an  early  friend,  and  am  somewhat  of  a 
family  connection." 

"That  is,  I  understand  there  has  been  a  ground 
in  your  past  history  for  you  to  be  on  a  footing  of  a 
certain  family  intimacy  with  Mrs.  Seymour;  in  that 
case,  Mr.  Endicott,  I  think  you  ought  to  have  con 
sidered  yourself  the  guardian  of  her  honor  and  reputa 
tion,  and  not  allowed  her  to  be  compromised  on  your 
account." 

The  blood  flushed  into  Harry's  face;  and  he  stood 
abashed  and  silent.  Rose  went  on,  — 


276  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

"  I  was  shocked,  I  was  astonished,  last  night,  because 
I  could  not  help  overhearing  the  most  disagreeable,  the 
most  painful  remarks  on  you  and  her,  —  remarks  most 
unjust,  I  am  quite  sure,  but  for  which  I  fear  you  have 
given  too  much  reason !  " 

"  Miss  Ferguson,"  said  Harry,  stopping  as  he  walked 
up  and  down,  "I  confess  I  have  been  wrong  and  done 
wrong ;  but,  if  you  knew  all,  you  might  see  how  I  have 
been  led  into  it.  That  woman  has  been  the  evil  fate  of 
my  life.  Years  ago,  when  we  were  both  young,  I  loved 
her  as  honestly  as  man  could  love  a  woman ;  and  she 
professed  to  love  me  in  return.  But  I  was  poor ;  and 
she  would  not  marry  me.  She  sent  me  off,  yet  she 
would  not  let  me  forget  her.  She  would  always  write 
to  me  just  enough  to  keep  up  hope  and  interest ;  and 
she  knew  for  years  that  all  my  object  in  striving  for 
fortune  was  to  win  her.  At  last,  when  a  lucky  stroke 
made  me  suddenly  rich,  and  I  came  home  to  seek  her,  I 
found  her  married,  —  married,  as  she  owns,  without 
love,  —  married  for  wealth  and  ambition.  I  don't 
justify  myself,  —  I  don't  pretend  to ;  but  when  she 
met  me  with  her  old  smiles  and  her  old  charms,  and 
told  me  she  loved  me  still,  it  roused  the  very  devil  in 
me.  I  wanted  revenge.  I  wanted  to  humble  her,  and 
make  her  suffer  all  she  had  made  me ;  and  I  didn't  care 
what  came  of  it." 

Harry  spoke,  trembling  with  emotion ;  and  Rose  felt 
almost  terrified  with  the  storm  she  had  raised. 

"  O  Mr.  Endicott !  "  she  said,  "  was  this  worthy  of 
you?  was  there  nothing  better,  higher,  more  manly 


THE  SPIDER-WEB  BROKEN.  277 

than  this  poor  revenge  ?  You  men  are  stronger  than 
we:  you  have  the  world  in  your  hands;  you  have  a 
thousand  resources  where  we  have  only  one.  And  you 
ought  to  be  stronger  and  nobler  according  to  your 
advantages;  you  ought  to  rise  superior  to  the  temp 
tations  that  beset  a  poor,  weak,  ill-educated  woman, 
whom  everybody  has  been  nattering  from  her  cradle, 
and  whom  you,  I  dare  say,  have  helped  to  natter, 
turning  her  head  with  compliments,  like  all  the  rest 
of  them.  Come,  now,  is  not  there  something  in 
that?" 

"  Well,  I  suppose,"  said  Harry,  "  that  when  Lillie  and 
I  were  girl  and  boy  together,  I  did  natter  her,  sincerely 
that  is.  Her  beauty  made  a  fool  of  me  ;  and  I  helped 
make  a  fool  of  her." 

"  And  I  dare  say,"  said  Rose,  "  you  told  her  that  all 
she  was  made  for  was  to  be  charming,  and  encouraged 
her  to  live  the  life  of  a  butterfly  or  canary-bird.  Did 
you  ever  try  to  strengthen  her  principles,  to  educate 
her  mind,  to  make  her  strong  ?  On  the  contrary,  haven't 
you  been  bowing  down  and  adoring  her  for  being  weak? 
It  seems  to  me  that  Lillie  is  exactly  the  kind  of  woman 
that  you  men  educate,  by  the  way  you  look  on  women, 
and  the  way  you  treat  them." 

Harry  sat  in  silence,  ruminating. 

"  Now,"  said  Rose,  "  it  seems  to  me  it 's  the  most 
cowardly  and  unmanly  thing  in  the  world  for  men,  with 
every  advantage  in  their  hands,  with  all  the  strength 
that  their  kind  of  education  gives  them,  with  all  their 
opportunities,  —  a  thousand  to  our  one,  —  to  hunt  down 


278  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

these  poor  little  silly  women,  whom  society  keeps  stunted 
and  dwarfed  for  their  special  amusement." 

"Miss  Ferguson,  you  are  very  severe,"  said  Harry, 
his  face  flushing. 

"Well,"  said  Rose,  "you  have  this  advantage,  Mr. 
Endicott:  you  know,  if  I  am,  the  world  will  not  be. 
Everybody  will  take  your  part ;  everybody  will  smile 
on  you,  and  condemn  her.  That  is  generous,  is  it  not  ? 
I  think,  after  all,  Noah  Claypole  isn't  so  very  uncommon 
a  picture  of  the  way  that  your  lordly  sex  turn  round 
and  cast  all  the  blame  on  ours.  You  will  never  make  me 
believe  in  a  protracted  flirtation  between  a  gentleman 
and  lady,  where  at  least  half  the  blame  does  not  lie  on 
his  lordship's  side.  I  always  said  that  a  woman  had  no 
need  to  have  offers  made  her  by  a  man  she  could  not 
love,  if  she  conducted  herself  properly ;  and  I  think 
the  same  is  true  in  regard  to  men.  But  then,  as  I 
said  before,  you  have  the  world  on  your  side;  nine 
persons  out  of  ten  see  no  possible  harm  in  a  man's 
taking  every  advantage  of  a  woman,  if  she  will  let 
him." 

"  But  I  care  more  for  the  opinion  of  the  tenth  person 
than  of  the  nine,"  said  Harry ;  "  I  care  more  for  what 
you  think  than  any  of  them.  Your  words  are  severe  ; 
but  I  think  they  are  just." 

"  O  Mr.  Endicott ! "  said  Rose,  "  live  for  something 
higher  than  for  what  I  think,  —  than  for  what  any  one 
thinks.  Think  how  many  glorious  chances  there  are 
for  a  noble  career  for  a  young  man  with  your  fortune, 
with  your  leisure,  with  your  influence  !  is  it  for  you  to 


THE  SPIDER-WEB  BROKEN.  279 

waste  life  in  this  unworthy  way  ?   If  I  had  your  chances, 
I  would  try  to  do  something  worth  doing." 

Hose's  face  kindled  with  enthusiasm  ;  and  Harry 
looked  at  her  with  admiration. 

"  Tell  me  what  I  ought  to  do ! "  he  said. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you,"  said  Rose ;  "  but  where  there  is 
a  will  there  is  a  way :  and,  if  you  have  the  will,  you 
will  find  the  way.  But,  first,  you  must  try  and  repair 
the  mischief  you  have  done  to  Lillie.  By  your  own 
account  of  the  matter,  you  have  been  encouraging  and 
keeping  up  a  sort  of  silly,  romantic  excitement  in  her. 
It  is  worse  than  silly ;  it  is  sinful.  It  is  trifling  with 
her  best  interests  in  this  life  and  the  life  to  come.  And 
I  think  you  must  know  that,  if  you  had  treated  her 
like  an  honest,  plain-spoken  brother  or  cousin,  without 
any  trumpery  of  gallantry  or  sentiment,  things  would 
have  never  got  to  be  as  they  are.  You  could  have  pre 
vented  all  this ;  and  you  can  put  an  end  to  it  now." 

"  Honestly,  I  will  try,"  said  Harry.  "  I  will  begin,  by 
confessing  my  faults  like  a  good  boy,  and  take  the  blame 
on  myself  where  it  belongs,  and  try  to  make  Lillie  see 
things  like  a  good  girl.  But  she  is  in  bad  surroundings ; 
and,  if  I  were  her  husband,  I  wouldn't  let  her  stay  there 
another  day.  There  are  no  morals  in  that  circle ;  it 's 
all  a  perfect  crush  of  decaying  garbage." 

"  I  think,"  said  Rose,  "  that,  if  this  thing  goes  no 
farther,  it  will  gradually  die  out  even  in  that  circle; 
and,  in  the  better  circles  of  New  York,  I  trust  it  will 
not  be  heard  of.  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan  and  I  will  appear 
publicly  with  Lillie ;  and  if  she  is  seen  with  us,  and  at 


280  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYEANNT. 

this  house,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  contradict  a  dozen 
slanders.  She  has  the  noblest,  kindest  husband,  —  one 
of  the  best  men  and  truest  gentlemen  I  ever  knew." 

"  I  pity  him  then,"  said  Harry. 

"  He  is  to  be  pitied,"  said  Hose ;  "  but  his  work  is 
before  him.  This  woman,  such  as  she  is,  with  all  her 
faults,  he  has  taken  for  better  or  for  worse ;  and  all  true 
friends  and  good  people,  both  his  and  hers,  should  help 
both  sides  to  make  the  best  of  it." 

u  I  should  say,"  said  Harry,  "  that  there  is  in  this  no 
best  side." 

"I  think  you  do  Lillie  injustice,"  said  Rose.  "There 
is,  and  must  be,  good  in  every  one ;  and  gradually  the 
good  in  him  will  overcome  the  evil  in  her." 

"Let  us  hope  so,"  said  Harry.  "And  now,  Miss 
Ferguson,  may  I  hope  that  you  won't  quite  cross  my 
name  out  of  your  good  book  ?  You  '11  be  friends  with 
me,  won't  you  ?  " 

"Oh,  certainly!"  said  Rose,  with  a  frank  smile. 

"Well,  let's  shake  hands  on  that,"  said  Harry,  rising 
to  go. 

Rose  gave  him  her  hand,  and  the  two  parted  in  all 
amity. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

COMMON-SENSE   ARGUMENTS. 

HARRY  went  straightway  from  the  interview  to 
call  upon  Lillie,  and  had  a  conversation  with 
her ;  in  which  he  conducted  himself  like  a  sober,  dis 
creet,  and  rational  man.  It  was  one  of  those  daylight, 
matter-of-fact  kinds  of  talks,  with  no  nonsense  about 
them,  in  which  things  are  called  by  their  right  names. 
He  confessed  his  own  sins,  and  took  upon  his  own 
shoulders  the  blame  that  properly  belonged  there; 
and,  having  thus  cleared  his  conscience,  took  occasion 
to  give  Lillie  a  deal  of  grandfatherly  advice,  of  a  very 
sedative  tendency. 

They  had  both  been  very  silly,  he  said  ;  and  the  next 
step  to  being  silly  very  often  was  to  be  wicked.  For 
his  part,  he  thought  she  ought  to  be  thankful  for  so 
good  a  husband  ;  and,  for  his  own  part,  he  should  lose 
no  time  in  trying  to  find  a  good  wife,  who  would  help 
him  to  be  a  good  man,  and  do  something  worth  doing 
in  the  world.  He  had  given  people  occasion  to  say 
ill-natured  things  about  her ;  and  he  was  sorry  for  it. 
But,  if  they  stopped  being  imprudent,  the  world  would 


282  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

in  time  stop  talking.  He  hoped,  some  of  these  days,  to 
bring  his  wife  down  to  see  her,  and  to  make  the  acquaint 
ance  of  her  husband,  whom  he  knew  to  be  a  capital  fel 
low,  and  one  that  she  ought  to  be  proud  of. 

Thus,  by  the  intervention  of  good  angels,  the  little 
paper-nautilus  bark  of  Lillie's  fortunes  was  prevented 
from  going  down  in  the  great  ugly  maelstrom,  on  the 
verge  of  which  it  had  been  so  heedlessly  sailing. 

Harry  was  not  slow  in  pushing  the  advantage  of  his 
treaty  of  friendship  with  Rose  to  its  utmost  limits ;  and, 
being  a  young  gentleman  of  parts  and  proficiency,  he 
made  rapid  progress. 

The  interview  of  course  immediately  bred  the  neces 
sity  for  at  least  a  dozen  more ;  for  he  had  to  explain 
this  thing,  and  qualify  that,  and,  on  reflection,  would 
find  by  the  next  day  that  the  explanation  and  qualifica 
tion  required  a  still  further  elucidation.  Rose  also, 
after  the  first  conversation  was  over,  was  troubled  at 
her  own  boldness,  and  at  the  things  that  she  in  her 
state  of  excitement  had  said ;  and  so  was  only  too  glad 
to  accord  interviews  and  explanations  as  often  as 
sought,  and,  on  the  whole,  was  in  the  most  favorable 
state  towards  her  penitent. 

Hence  came  many  calls,  and  many  conferences  with 
Rose  in  the  library,  to  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan's  great  sat 
isfaction,  and  concerning  which  Mr.  Van  Astrachan 
had  many  suppressed  chuckles  and  knowing  winks  at 
Polly. 

"Now,  pa,  don't  you  say  a  word,"  said  Mrs.  Van 
Astrachan. 


COMMON-SENSE  ARGUMENTS.  283 

"  Oh,  no,  Polly  !  catch  me !  I  see  a  great  deal,  but  I 
say  nothing,"  said  the  good  gentleman,  with  a  jocular 
quiver  of  his  portly  person.  "  I  don't  say  any  thing,  — 
oh,  no !  by  no  manner  of  means." 

Neither  at  present  did  Harry ;  neither  do  we. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 
SENTIMENT  v.    SENSIBILITY. 

r  I  "'HE  poet  has  feelingly  sung  the  condition  of 

"*•  "  The  banquet  hall  deserted, 

Whose  lights  are  fled,  and  garlands  dead,"  &c., 

and  so  wo  need  not  cast  the  daylight  of  minute  descrip 
tion  on  the  Follingsbee  mansion. 

Charlie  Ferrola,  however,  was  summoned  away  at 
early  daylight,  just  as  the  last  of  the  revellers  were  dis 
persing,  by  a  hurried  messenger  from  his  wife ;  and,  a 
few  moments  after  he  entered  his  house,  he  was  stand 
ing  beside  his  dying  baby,  —  the  little  fellow  whom  we 
have  seen  brought  down  on  Mrs.  Ferrola's  arm,  to  greet 
the  call  of  Mrs.  Follingsbee. 

It  is  an  awful  thing  for  people  of  the  flimsy,  vain, 
pain-shunning,  pleasure-seeking  character  of  Charlie 
Ferrola,  to  be  taken  at  times,  as  such  people  will  be,  in 
the  grip  of  an  inexorable  power,  and  held  face  to  face 
with  the  sternest,  the  most  awful,  the  most  frightful 
realities  of  life.  Charlie  Ferrola  was  one  of  those  whose 
softness  and  pitlfulness,  like  that  of  sentimentalists  gen 
erally,  was  only  one  form  of  intense  selfishness.  The 


SENTIMENT  v.    SENSIBILITY.  285 


/sight  of  suffering  pained  him ;  and  his  first  impulse  was 
to  get  out  of  the  way  of  it.  Suffering  that  he  did  not 
see  was  nothing  to  him;  and,  if  his  wife  or  children 
were  in  any  trouble,  he  would  have  liked  very  well  to 
have  known* nothing  about  it. 

But  here  he  was,  by  the  bedside  of  this  little  creat 
ure,  dying  in  the  agonies  of  slow  suffocation,  rolling 
up  its  dark,  imploring  eyes,  and  lifting  its  poor  little 
helpless  hands;  and  Charlie  Ferrola  broke  out  into 
the  most  violent  and  extravagant  demonstrations  of 
grief. 

The  pale,  firm  little  woman,  who  had  watched  all 
night,  and  in  whose  tranquil  face  a  light  as  if  from 
heaven  was  beaming,  had  to  assume  the  care  of  him,  in 
addition  to  that  of  her  dying  child.  He  was  another 
helpless  burden  on  her  hands. 

There  came  a  day  when  the  house  was  filled  with 
white  flowers,  and  people  came  and  went,  and  holy 
words  were  spoken ;  and  the  fairest  flower  of  all  was 
carried  out,  to  return  to  the  house  no  more. 

"  That  woman  is  a  most  unnatural  and  peculiar 
woman!"  said  Mrs.  Follingsbee,  who  had  been  most 
active  and  patronizing  in  sending  flowers,  and  attend 
ing  to  the  scenic  arrangements  of  the  funeral.  "  It  is 
just  what  I  always  said :  she  is  a  perfect  statue ;  she 's 
no  kind  of  feeling.  There  was  Charlie,  poor  fellow !  so 
sick  that  he  had  to  go  to  bed,  perfectly  overcome,  and 
have  somebody  to  sit  up  with  him ;  and  there  was  that 
woman  never  shed  a  tear,  —  went  round  attending  to 
every  thing,  just  like  a  piece  of  clock-work.  Well,  I 


286  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

suppose  people  are  happier  for  being  made  so ;  people 
that  have  no  sensibility  are  better  fitted  to  get  through 
the  world.  But,  gracious  me!  I  can't  understand  such 
people.  There  she  stood  at  the  grave,  looking  so  calm, 
when  Charlie  was  sobbing  so  that  he  could  hardly 
hold  himself  up.  Well,  it  really  wasn't  respectable.  I 
think,  at  least,  I  would  keep  my  veil  down,  and  keep 
my  handkerchief  up.  Poor  Charlie !  he  came  to  me  at 
last ;  and  I  gave  way.  I  was  completely  broken  down, 
I  must  confess.  Poor  fellow !  he  told  me  there  was  no 
conceiving  his  misery.  That  baby  was  the  very  idol  of 
his  soul ;  all  his  hopes  of  life  were  centred  in  it.  He 
really  felt  tempted  to  rebel  at  Providence.  He  said 
that  he  really  could  not  talk  with  his  wife  on  the  sub 
ject.  He  could  not  enter  into  her  submission  at  all; 
it  seemed  to  him  like  a  want  of  feeling.  He  said  of 
course  it  wasn't  her  fault  that  she  was  made  one  way 
and  he  another." 

In  fact,  Mr.  Charlie  Ferrola  took  to  the  pink  satin 
boudoir  with  a  more  languishing  persistency  than  ever, 
requiring  to  be  stayed  with  flagons,  and  comforted  with 
apples,  and  receiving  sentimental  calls  of  condolence 
from  fair  admirers,  made  aware  of  the  intense  poignancy 
of  his  grief.  A  lovely  poem,  called  "My  Withered 
Blossom,"  which  appeared  in  a  fashionable  magazine 
shortly  after,  was  the  out-come  of  this  experience,  and 
increased  the  fashionable  sympathy  to  the  highest 
degree. 

Honest  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan,  however,  though  not 
acquainted  with  Mrs.  Ferrola,  went  to  the  funeral  with 


SENTIMENT  v.   SENSIBILITY.  287 

Kose ;  and  the  next  day  her  carriage  was  seen  at  Mrs. 
Ferrola's  door. 

"  You  poor  little  darling ! "  she  said,  as  she  came  up 
and  took  Mrs.  Ferrola  in  her  arms.  "  You  must  let  me 
come,  and  not  mind  me ;  for  I  know  all  about  it.  I  lost 
the  dearest  little  baby  once ;  and  I  have  never  forgotten 
it.  There !  there,  darling !  "  she  said,  as  the  little  wo 
man  broke  into  sobs  in  her  arms.  "  Yes,  yes ;  do  cry ! 
it  will  do  your  little  heart  good." 

There  are  people  who,  wherever  they  move,  freeze  the 
hearts  of  those  they  touch,  and  chill  all  demonstration 
of  feeling;  and  there  are  warm  natures,  that  unlock 
every  fountain,  and  bid  every  feeling  gush  forth.  The 
reader  has  seen  these  two  types  in  this  story. 

"Wife,"  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan,  coming  to  Mrs. 
V.  confidentially  a  day  or  two  after,  "I  wonder  if 
you  remember  any  of  your  French.  What  is  a 
liaison?" 

"  Really,  dear,"  said  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan,  whose  read 
ing  of  late  years  had  been  mostly  confined  to  such 
memoirs  as  that  of  Mrs.  Isabella  Graham,  Doddridge's 
"Rise  and  Progress,"  and  Baxter's  "  Saint's  Rest,"  "it's 
a  great  while  since  I  read  any  French.  What  do  you 
want  to  know  for  ?  " 

"  Well,  there 's  Ben  Stuyvesant  was  saying  this  morn 
ing,  in  Wall  Street,  that  there 's  a  great  deal  of  talk  about 
that  Mrs.  Follingsbee  and  that  young  fellow  whose 
baby's  funeral  you  went  to.  Ben  says  there 's  a  liaison 
between  her  and  him.  I  didn't  ask  him  what 't  was ; 


288  PINK  AND  WHITE   TYRANNY. 

but  it 's  something  or  other  with  a  French  name  that 
makes  talk,  and  I  don't  think  it's  respectable!  I'm 
sorry  that  you  and  Rose  went  to  her  party ;  but  then 
that  can't  be  helped  now.  I  'm  afraid  this  Mrs.  Fol- 
lingsbee  is  no  sort  of  a  woman,  after  all." 

"But,  pa,  I've  been  to  call  on  Mrs.  Ferrola,  poor 
little  afflicted  thing!"  said  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan.  "I 
couldn't  help  it !  You  know  how  we  felt  when  little 
Willie  died." 

"  Oh,  certainly,  Polly !  call  on  the  poor  woman  by  all 
means,  and  do  all  you  can  to  comfort  her ;  but,  from  all 
I  can  find  out,  that  handsome  jackanapes  of  a  husband 
of  hers  is  just  the  poorest  trash  going.  They  say  this 
Follingsbee  woman  half  supports  him.  The  time  was 
in  New  York  when  such  doings  wouldn't  be  allowed ; 
and  I  don't  think  calling  things  by  French  names  makes 
them  a  bit  better.  So  you  just  be  careful,  and  steer  as 
clear  of  her  as  you  can." 

"  I  will,  pa,  just  as  clear  as  I  can ;  but  you  know 
Rose  is  a  friend  of  Mrs.  John  Seymour ;  and  Mrs.  Sey 
mour  is  visiting  at  Mrs.  Follingsbee's." 

"  Her  husband  oughtn't  to  let  her  stay  there  another 
day,"  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan.  "  It 's  as  much  as  any 
woman's  reputation  is  worth  to  be  staying  with  her. 
To  think  of  that  fellow  being  dancing  and  capering  at 
that  Jezebel's  house  the  night  his  baby  was  dying ! " 

"  Oh,  but,  pa,  he  didn't  know  it." 

"  Know  it  ?  he  ought  to  have  known  it !  What  busi 
ness  has  a  man  to  get  a  woman  with  a  lot  of  babies 
round  her,  and  then  go  capering  off  ?  'T  wasn't  the  way 


SENTIMENT  v.   SENSIBILITY.  289 

I  did,  Polly,  you  know,  when  our  babies  were  young. 
I  was  always  on  the  spot  there,  ready  to  take  the 
baby,  and  walk  up  and  down  with  it  nights,  so  that 
you  might  get  your  sleep;  and  I  always  had  it  my 
side  of  the  bed  half  the  night.  I  'd  like  to  have  seen 
myself  out  at  a  ball,  and  you  sitting  up  with  a  sick 
baby!  I  tell  you,  that  if  I  caught  any  of  my  boys 
up  to  such  tricks,  I'd  cut  them  out  of  my  will,  and 
settle  the  money  on  their  wives;  —  that's  what  I 
would!" 

"  Well,  pa,  I  shall  try  and  do  all  in  my  power  for  poor 
Mrs.  Ferrola,"  said  Mrs.  Van  Astrachan;  "and  you 
may  be  quite  sure  I  won't  take  another  step  towards 
Mrs.  Follingsbee's  acquaintance." 

"  It 's  a  pity,"  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan,  "  that  some 
body  couldn't  put  it  into  Mr.  John  Seymour's  head  to 
send  for  his  wife  home. 

"  I  don't  see,  for  my  part,  what  respectable  women 
want  to  be  gallivanting  and  high-flying  on  their  own 
separate  account  for,  away  from  their  husbands !  Goods 
that  are  sold  shouldn't  go  back  to  the  shop-windows," 
said  the  good  gentleman,  all  whose  views  of  life  were 
of  the  most  old-fashioned,  domestic  kind. 

"  Well,  dear,  we  don't  want  to  talk  to  Rose  about 
any  of  this  scandal,"  said  his  wife. 

"  No,  no ;  it  would  be  a  pity  to  put  any  thing  bad 
into  a  nice  girl's  head,"  said  Mr.  Van  Astrachan.  "  You 
might  caution  her  in  a  general  way,  you  know ;  tell  her, 
for  instance,  that  I  Ve  heard  of  things  that  make  me  feel 
you  ought  to  draw  off.  Why  can't  some  bird  of  the 

19 


290  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

air  tell  that  little  Seymour  woman's  husband  to  get  her 
home  ?  " 

The  little  Seymour  woman's  husband,  though  not 
warned  by  any  particular  bird  of  the  air,  was  not  back 
ward  in  taking  steps  for  the  recall  of  his  wife,  as  shall 
hereafter  appear. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 

WEDDING   BELLS. 

O  OME  weeks  had  passed  in  Springdale  while  these 
^  affairs  had  been  going  on  in  New  York.  The 
time  for  the  marriage  of  Grace  had  been  set ;  and  she 
had  gone  to  Boston  to  attend  to  that  preparatory  shop 
ping  which  even  the  most  sensible  of  the  sex  discover 
to  be  indispensable  on  such  occasions. 

Grace  inclined,  in  the  centre  of  her  soul,  to  Bostonian 
rather  than  New-York  preferences.  She  had  the  inno 
cent  impression  that  a  classical  severity  and  a  rigid 
reticence  of  taste  pervaded  even  the  rebellious  depart 
ment  of  feminine  millinery  in  the  city  of  the  Pilgrims,  — 
an  idea  which  we  rather  think  young  Boston  would 
laugh  down  as  an  exploded  superstition,  young  Boston's 
leading  idea  at  the  present  hour  being  apparently  to 
outdo  New  York  in  New  York 's  imitation  of  Paris. 

In  fact,  Grace  found  it  very  difficult  to  find  a  milliner 
who,  if  left  to  her  own  devices,  would  not  befeather 
and  beflower  her  past  all  self-recognition,  giving  to  her 
that  generally  betousled  and  fly-away  air  which  comes 
straight  from  the  demi-monde  of  Paris. 

We  apprehend  that  the  recent  storms  of  tribulation 


292  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

which  have  beat  upon  those  fairy  islands  of  fashion 
may  scatter  this  frail  and  fanciful  population,  and  send 
them  by  shiploads  on  missions  of  civilization  to  our 
shores ;  in  which  case,  the  bustle  and  animation  and  the 
brilliant  display  on  the  old  turnpike,  spoken  of  familiarly 
as  the  "  broad  road,"  will  be  somewhat  increased. 

Grace  however  managed,  by  the  exercise  of  a  good 
individual  taste,  to  come  out  of  these  shopping  conflicts 
in  good  order,  —  a  handsome,  well-dressed,  charming 
woman,  with  everybody's  best  wishes  for,  and  sympathy 
in,  her  happiness. 

Lillie  was  summoned  home  by  urgent  messages  from 
her  husband,  calling  her  back  to  take  her  share  in  wed 
ding  festivities. 

She  left  willingly ;  for  the  fact  is  that  her  last  con 
versation  with  her  cousin  Harry  had  made  the  situation 
as  uncomfortable  to  her  as  if  he  had  unceremoniously 
deluged  her  with  a  pailful  of  cold  water. 

There  is  a  chilly,  disagreeable  kind  of  article,  called 
common  sense,  which  is  of  all  things  most  repulsive 
and  antipathetical  to  all  petted  creatures  whose  life  has 
consisted  in  flattery.  It  is  the  kind  of  talk  which  sisters 
are  very  apt  to  hear  from  brothers,  and  daughters  from 
fathers  and  mothers,  when  fathers  and  mothers  do  their 
duty  by  them ;  which  sets  the  world  before  them  as  it 
is,  and  not  as  it  is  painted  by  flatterers.  Those  women 
who  prefer  the  society  of  gentlemen,  and  who  have  the 
faculty  of  bewitching  their  senses,  never  are  in  the  way 
of  hearing  from  this  cold  matter-of-fact  region ;  for  them 
it  really  does  not  exist.  Every  phrase  that  meets  their 


WEDDING  BELLS.  293 

ear  is  polished  and  softened,  guarded  and  delicately 
turned,  till  there  is  not  a  particle  of  homely  truth  left 
in  it.  They  pass  their  time  in  a  world  of  illusions; 
they  demand  these  illusions  of  all  who  approach  them, 
as  the  sole  condition  of  peace  and  favor.  All  gentlemen, 
by  a  sort  of  instinct,  recognize  the  woman  who  lives  by 
flattery,  and  give  her  her  portion  of  meat  in  due  season ; 
and  thus  some  poor  women  are  hopelessly  buried,  as 
suicides  used  to  be  in  Scotland,  under  a  mountain  of 
rubbish,  to  which  each  passer-by  adds  one  stone.  It  is 
only  by  some  extraordinary  power  of  circumstances 
that  a  man  can  be  found  to  invade  the  sovereignty  of 
a  pretty  woman  with  any  disagreeable  tidings;  or,  as 
Junius  says,  "  to  instruct  the  throne  in  the  language  of 
truth."  Harry  was  brought  up  to  this  point  only  by 
such  a  concurrence  of  circumstances.  He  was  in  love 
with  another  woman,  —  a  ready  cause  for  disenchant 
ment.  He  was  in  some  sort  a  family  connection  ;  and 
he  saw  Lillie's  conduct  at  last,  therefore,  through  the 
plain,  unvarnished  medium  of  common  sense.  More 
over,  he  felt  a  little  pinched  in  his  own  conscience  by 
the  view  which  Rose  seemed  to  take  of  his  part  in  the 
matter,  and,  manlike,  was  strengthened  in  doing  his 
duty  by  being  a  little  galled  and  annoyed  at  the  woman 
whose  charms  had  tempted  him  into  this  dilemma.  So 
he  talked  to  Lillie  like  a  brother ;  or,  in  other  words, 
made  himself  disagreeably  explicit,  —  showed  her  her 
sins,  and  told  her  her  duties  as  a  married  woman.  The 
charming  fair  ones  who  sentimentally  desire  gentlemen 
to  regard  them  as  sisters  do  not  bargain  for  any  of  this 


294  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

sort  of  brotherly  plainness ;  and  yet  they  might  do  it 
with  great  advantage.  A  brother,  who  is  not  a  brother, 
stationed  near  the  ear  of  a  fair  friend,  is  commonly 
very  careful  not  to  compromise  his  position  by  telling 
unpleasant  truths ;  but,  on  the  present  occasion,  Harry 
made  a  literal  use  of  the  brevet  of  brotherhood  which 
Lillie  had  bestowed  on  him,  and  talked  to  her  as  the 
generality  of  real  brothers  talk  to  their  sisters,  using 
great  plainness  of  speech.  He  withered  all  her  poor 
little  trumpery  array  of  hothouse  flowers  of  sentiment, 
by  treating  them  as  so  much  garbage,  as  all  men  know 
they  are.  He  set  before  her  the  gravity  and  dignity  of 
marriage,  and  her  duties  to  her  husband.  Last,  and 
most  unkind  of  all,  he  professed  his  admiration  of  Rose 
Ferguson,  his  unworthiness  of  her,  and  his  determina 
tion  to  win  her  by  a  nobler  and  better  life ;  and  then 
showed  himself  to  be  a  stupid  blunderer  by  exhorting 
Lillie  to  make  Rose  her  model,  and  seek  to  imitate  her 
virtues. 

Poor  Lillie !  the  world  looked  dismal  and  dreary 
enough  to  her.  She  shrunk  within  herself.  Every 
thing  was  withered  and  disenchanted.  All  her  poor 
little  stock  of  romance  seemed  to  her  as  disgusting  as 
the  withered  flowers  and  crumpled  finery  and  half- 
melted  ice-cream  the  morning  after  a  ball. 

In  this  state,  when  she  got  a  warm,  true  letter  from 
John,  who  always  grew  tender  and  affectionate  when 
she  was  long  away,  couched  in  those  terms  of  admira 
tion  and  affection  that  were  soothing  to  her  ear,  she 
really  longed  to  go  back  to  him.  She  shrunk  from  the 


WEDDING  BELLS.  295 

dreary  plainness  of  truth,  and  longed  for  flattery  and 
petting  and  caresses  once  more ;  and  she  wrote  to  John 
an  overflowingly  tender  letter,  full  of  longings,  which 
brought  him  at  once  to  her  side,  the  most  delighted  of 
men.  When  Lillie  cried  in  his  arms,  and  told  him 
that  she  found  New  York  perfectly  hateful ;  when  she 
declaimed  on  the  heartlessness  of  fashionable  life,  and 
longed  to  go  with  him  to  their  quiet  home,  —  she  was 
tolerably  in  earnest ;  and  John  was  perfectly  enchanted. 

Poor  John !  Was  he  a  muff,  a  spoon  ?  We  think 
not.  We  understand  well  that  there  is  not  a  woman 
among  our  readers  who  has  the  slightest  patience  with 
Lillie,  and  that  the  most  of  them  are  half  out  of  patience 
with  John  for  his  enduring  tenderness  towards  her. 

But  men  were  born  and  organized  by  nature  to  be 
the  protectors  of  women ;  and,  generally  speaking,  the 
stronger  and  more  thoroughly  manly  a  man  is,  the  more 
he  has  of  what  phrenologists  call  the  "  pet  organ,"  —  the 
disposition  which  makes  him  the  charmed  servant  of 
what  is  weak  and  dependent.  John  had  a  great  share 
of  this  quality.  He  was  made  to  be  a  protector.  He 
loved  to  protect ;  he  loved  every  thing  that  was  help 
less  and  weak,  —  young  animals,  young  children,  and 
delicate  women. 

He  was  a  romantic  adorer  of  womanhood,  as  a  sort 
of  divine  mystery,  —  a  never-ending  poem  ;  and  when 
his  wife  was  long  enough  away  from  him  to  give  scope 
for  imagination  to  work,  when  she  no  longer  annoyed 
him  with  the  friction  of  the  sharp  little  edges  of  her 
cold  and  selfish  nature,  he  was  able  to  see  her  once  more 


296  PINK  AND   WHITE  TYRANNY. 

in  the  ideal  light  of  first  love.  After  all,  she  was  his 
wife ;  and  in  that  one  word,  to  a  good  man,  is  every 
thing  holy  and  sacred.  He  longed  to  believe  in  her  and 
trust  her  wholly ;  and  now  that  Grace  was  going  from 
him,  to  belong  to  another,  Lillie  was  more  than  ever  his 
dependence. 

On  the  whole,  if  we  must  admit  that  John  was  weak, 
he  was  weak  where  strong  and  noble  natures  may  most 
gracefully  be  so,  —  weak  through  disinterestedness, 
faith,  and  the  disposition  to  make  the  best  of  the  wife 
he  had  chosen. 

And  so  Lillie  came  home;  and  there  was  festivity 
and  rejoicing.  Grace  found  herself  floated  into  matri 
mony  on  a  tide  bringing  gifts  and  tokens  of  remem 
brance  from  everybody  that  had  ever  known  her ;  for 
all  were  delighted  with  this  opportunity  of  testifying  a 
sense  of  her  worth,  and  every  hand  was  ready  to  help 
ring  her  wedding  bells. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

MOTHERHOOD. 

IT  is  supposed  by  some  that  to  become  a  mother 
is  of  itself  (a,  healing  and  saving  dispensation ;  that 
of  course  the  reign  of  selfishness  ends,  and  the  reign 
of  better  things  begins,  with  the  commencement  of 
maternity. 

But  old  things  do  not  pass  away  and  all  things 
become  new  by  any  such  rapid  process  of  conversion. 
A  whole  life  spent  in  self-seeking  and  self-pleasing  is  no 
preparation  for  the  most  august  and  austere  of  woman's 
sufferings  and  duties;  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered 
at  if  the  untrained,  untaught,  and  self-indulgent  shrink 
from  this  ordeal,  as  Lillie  did. 

The  next  spring,  while  the  gables  of  the  new  cottage 
on  Elm  Street  were  looking  picturesquely  through  the 
blossoming  cherry-trees,  and  the  smoke  was  curling 
up  from  the  chimneys  where  Grace  and  her  husband 
were  cosily  settled  down  together,  there  came  to  John's 
house  another  little  Lillie. 

The  little  creature  came  in  terror  and  trembling. 
For  the  mother  had  trifled  fearfully  with  the  great  laws 


298  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

of  her  being  before  its  birth;  and  the  very  shadow 
of  death  hung  over  her  at  the  time  the  little  new 
life  began. 

Lillie's  mother,  now  a  widow,  was  sent  for,  and  by 
this  event  installed  as  a  fixture  in  her  daughter's  dwell 
ing  ;  and  for  weeks  the  sympathies  of  all  the  neighbor 
hood  were  concentrated  upon  the  sufferer.  Flowers 
and  fruits  were  left  daily  at  the  door.  Every  one 
was  forward  in  offering  those  kindly  attentions  which 
spring  up  so  gracefully  in  rural  neighborhoods.  Every 
body  was  interested  for  her.  She  was  little  and  pretty 
and  suffering ;  and  people  even  forgot  to  blame  her  for 
the  levities  that  had  made  her  present  trial  more 
severe.  As  to  John,  he  watched  over  her  day  and 
night  with  anxious  assiduity,  forgetting  every  fault  and 
foible.  She  was  now  more  than  the  wife  of  his  youth ; 
she  was  the  mother  of  his  child,  enthroned  and  glorified 
in  his  eyes  by  the  wonderful  and  mysterious  experi 
ences  which  had  given  this  new  little  treasure  to  their 
dwelling. 

To  say  the  truth,  Lillie  was  too  sick  and  suffering  for 
sentiment.  It  requires  a  certain  amount  of  bodily 
strength  and  soundness  to  feel  emotions  of  love ;  and, 
for  a  long  time,  the  little  Lillie  had  to  be  banished  from 
the  mother's  apartment,  as  she  lay  weary  in  her  dark 
ened  room,  with  only  a  consciousness  of  a  varied  suc 
cession  of  disagreeables  and  discomforts.  Her  general 
impression  about  herself  was,  that  she  was  a  much 
abused  and  most  unfortunate  woman ;  and  that  all  that 
could  ever  be  done  by  the  utmost  devotion  of  every- 


MOTHERHOOD.  299 

body  in  the  house  was  insufficient  to  make  up  for  such 
trials  as  had  come  upon  her. 

A  nursing  mother  was  found  for  the  little  Lillie 
in  the  person  of  a  goodly  Irish  woman,  fair,  fat,  and 
loving ;  and  the  real  mother  had  none  of  those  awaken 
ing  influences,  from  the  resting  of  the  little  head  in  her 
bosom,  and  the  pressure  of  the  little  helpless  fingers, 
which  magnetize  into  existence  the  blessed  power  of 
love. 

She  had  wasted  in  years  of  fashionable  folly,  and 
in  a  life  led  only  for  excitement  and  self-gratification, 
all  the  womanly  power,  all  the  capability  of  motherly 
giving  and  motherly  loving  that  are  the  glory  of 
womanhood.  Kathleen,  the  white-armed,  the  gentle- 
bosomed,  had  all  the  simple  pleasures,  the  tendernesses, 
the  poetry  of  motherhood;  while  poor,  faded,  fretful 
Lillie  had  all  the  prose  —  the  sad,  hard,  weary  prose  — 
of  sickness  and  pain,  unglorified  by  love. 

John  did  not  well  know  what  to  do  with  himself 
in  Lillie's  darkened  room;  where  it  seemed  to  him 
he  was  always  in  the  way,  always  doing  something 
wrong;  where  his  feet  always  seemed  too  large  and 
heavy,  and  his  voice  too  loud ;  and  where  he  was  sure, 
in  his  anxious  desire  to  be  still  and  gentle,  to  upset 
something,  or  bring  about  some  general  catastrophe, 
and  to  go  out  feeling  more  like  a  criminal  than  ever. 

The  mother  and  the  nurse,  stationed  there  like  a  pair 
of  chief  mourners,  spoke  in  tones  which  experienced 
feminine  experts  seem  to  keep  for  occasions  like  these, 
and  which,  as  Hawthorne  has  said,  give  an  effect  as 


300 


PINK  AND   WHITE   TJBANNY. 


if  the  voice  had  been  dyed  black.  It  was  a  comfort 
and  relief  to  pass  from  the  funeral  gloom  to  the  little 
pink-ruffled  chamber  among  the  cherry-trees,  where  the 
birds  were  singing  and  the  summer  breezes  blowing, 
and  the  pretty  Kathleen  was  crooning  her  Irish  songs, 
and  invoking  the  holy  virgin  and  all  the  saints  to 
bless  the  "daiiin"'  baby. 


"An'  it 's  a  biessin'  they  brings  wid  'em,  sir." 

"  An'  it 's  a  biessin'  they  brings  wid  'em  to  a  house, 
sir;  the  angels  comes  down  wid  'em.  We  can't  see 
'em,  sir ;  but,  bless  the  darlin',  she  can.  And  she  smiles 
in  her  sleep  when  she  sees  'em." 


MOTHERHOOD.  301 

Rose  and  Grace  came  often  to  this  bower  with  kisses 
and  gifts  and  offerings,  like  a  pair  of  nice  fairy  god 
mothers.  They  hung  over  the  pretty  little  waxen 
miracle  as  she  opened  her  great  blue  eyes  with  a  silent, 
mysterious  wonder;  but,  alas!  all  these  delicious  mo 
ments,  this  artless  love  of  the  new  baby  life,  was  not 
for  the  mother.  She  was  not  strong  enough  to  enjoy 
it.  Its  cries  made  her  nervous;  and  so  she  kept  the 
uncheered  solitude  of  her  room  without  the  blessing 
of  the  little  angel. 

People  may  mourn  in  lugubrious  phrase  about  the 
Irish  blood  in  our  country.  For  our  own  part,  w^e 
think  the  rich,  tender,  motherly  nature  of  the  Irish 
girl  an  element  a  thousand  times  more  hopeful  in 
our  population  than  the  faded,  washed-out  indifferent- 
ism  of  fashionable  women,  who  have  danced  and  flirted 
away  all  their  womanly  attributes,  till  there  is  neither 
warmth  nor  richness  nor  maternal  fulness  left  in  them,  — 
mere  paper-dolls,  without  milk  in  their  bosoms  or  blood 
in  their  veins.  Give  us  rich,  tender,  warm-hearted 
Bridgets  and  Kathleens,  whose  instincts  teach  them  the 
real  poetry  of  motherhood ;  who  can  love  unto  death, 
and  bear  trials  and  pains  cheerfully  for  the  joy  that 
is  set  before  them.  We  are  not  afraid  for  the  repub 
lican  citizens  that  such  mothers  will  bear  to  us.  They 
are  the  ones  that  will  come  to  high  places  in  our 
land,  and  that  will  possess  the  earth  by  right  of  the 
strongest. 

Motherhood,  to  the  woman  who  has  lived  only  to  be 
petted,  and  to  be  herself  the  centre  of  all  things,  is 


302  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

a  virtual  dethronement.  Something  weaker,  fairer, 
more  delicate  than  herself  comes,  —  something  for  her 
to  serve  and  to  care  for  more  than  herself. 

It  would  sometimes  seem  as  if  motherhood  were 
a  lovely  artifice  of  the  great  Father,  to  wean  the  heart 
from  selfishness  by  a  peaceful  and  gradual  process. 
The  babe  is  self  in  another  form.  It  is  so  interwoven 
and  identified  with  the  mother's  life,  that  she  passes 
by  almost  insensible  gradations  from  herself  to  it ;  and 
day  by  day  the  distinctive  love  of  self  wanes  as  the 
child-love  waxes,  filling  the  heart  with  a  thousand 
new  springs  of  tenderness. 

But  that  this  benignant  transformation  of  nature 
may  be  perfected,  it  must  be  wrought  out  in  Nature's 
own  way.  Any  artificial  arrangement  that  takes  the 
child  away  from  the  mother  interrupts  that  wonderful 
system  of  contrivances  whereby  the  mother's  nature 
and  being  shade  off  into  that  of  the  child,  and  her 
heart  enlarges  to  a  new  and  heavenly  power  of  loving. 

When  Lillie  was  sufficiently  recovered  to  be  fond 
of  any  thing,  she  found  in  her  lovely  baby  only  a  new 
toy,  —  a  source  of  pride  and  pleasure,  and  a  charming 
occasion  for  the  display  of  new  devices  of  millinery. 
But  she  found  Newport  indispensable  that  summer 
to  the  re-establishment  of  her  strength.  "  And  really," 
she  said,  "  the  baby  would  be  so  much  better  off  quietly 
at  home  with  mamma  and  Kathleen.  The  fact  is,"  she 
said,  "she  quite  disregards  me.  She  cries  after  Kath 
leen  if  I  take  her ;  so  that  it 's  quite  provoking." 

And  so  Lillie,  free  and  unencumbered,  had  her  gay 


MOTHERHOOD.  303 

season  at  Newport  with  the  Follingsbees,  and  the 
Simpkinses,  and  the  Tompkinses,  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  nice  people,  who  have  nothing  to  do  but  enjoy 
themselves;  and  everybody  flattered  her  by  being 
incredulous  that  one  so  young  and  charming  could 
possibly  be  a  mother. 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 
CHECKMATE. 

IF  ever  our  readers  have  observed  two  chess-players, 
both  ardent,  skilful,  determined,  who  have  been 
carrying  on  noiselessly  the  moves  of  a  game,  they  will 
understand  the  full  significance  of  this  decisive  term. 

Up  to  this  point,  there  is  hope,  there  is  energy,  there 
is  enthusiasm ;  the  pieces  are  marshalled  and  managed 
with  good  courage.  At  last,  perhaps  in  an  unexpected 
moment,  one,  two,  three  adverse  moves  follow  each 
other,  and  the  decisive  words,  check-mate,  are  uttered. 

This  is  a  symbol  of  what  often  goes  on  in  the  game 
of  life. 

Here  is  a  man  going  on,  indefinitely,  conscious  in  his 
own  heart  that  he  is  not  happy  in  his  domestic  rela 
tions.  There  is  a  want  of  union  between  him  and  his 
wife.  She  is  not  the  woman  that  meets  his  wants  or 
his  desires;  and  in  the  intercourse  of  life  they  con 
stantly  cross  and  annoy  each  other.  But  still  he  does 
not  allow  himself  to  look  the  matter  fully  in  the  face. 
He  goes  on  and  on,  hoping  that  to-morrow  will  bring 
something  better  than  to-day,  —  hoping  that  this  thing 
or  that  thing  or  the  other  thing  will  bring  a  change, 


CHECKMATE.  .  305 

and  that  in  some  indefinite  future  all  will  round  and 
fashion  itself  to  his  desires.  It  is  very  slowly  that  a 
man  awakens  from  the  illusions  of  his  first  love.  It  is 
very  unwillingly  that  he  ever  comes  to  the  final  conclu 
sion  that  he  has  made  there  the  mistake  of  a  whole  life 
time,  and  that  the  woman  to  whom  he  gave  his  whole 
heart  not  only  is  not  the  woman  that  he  supposed  her 
to  be,  but  never  in  any  future  time,  nor  by  any  change 
of  circumstances,  will  become  that  woman;  for  then 
the  difficulty  seems  radical  and  final  and  hopeless. 

In  "  The  Pilgrim's  Progress,"  we  read  that  the  poor 
man,  Christian,  tried  to  persuade  his  wife  to  go  with 
him  on  the  pilgrimage  to  the  celestial  city;  but  that 
finally  he  had  to  make  up  his  mind  to  go  alone  without 
her.  Such  is  the  lot  of  the  man  who  is  brought  to  the 
conclusion,  positively  and  definitely,  that  his  wife  is 
always  to  be  a  hinderance,  and  never  a  help  to  him,  in 
any  upward  aspiration ;  that  whatever  he  does  that  is 
needful  and  right  and  true  must  be  done,  not  by  her 
influence,  but  in  spite  of  it;  that,  if  he  has  to  swim 
against  the  hard,  upward  current  of  the  river  of  life,  he 
must  do  so  with  her  hanging  on  his  arm,  and  holding 
him  back,  and  that  he  cannot  influence  and  cannot 
control  her. 

Such  hours  of  disclosure  to  a  man  are  among  the  ter 
rible  hidden  tragedies  of  life,  —  tragedies  such  as  are 
never  acted  on  the  stage.  Such  a  time  of  disclosure 
came  to  John  the  year  after  Grace's  marriage ;  and  it 
came  in  this  way  :  — 

The  Spindle  wood  property  had  long  been  critically 
20 


306  PINK  AND  WHITE   TYRANNY. 

situated.  Sundry  financial  changes  which  were  going 
on  in  the  country  had  depreciated  its  profits,  and  af 
fected  it  unfavorably.  All  now  depended  upon  the 
permanency  of  one  commercial  house.  John  had  been 
passing  through  an  interval  of  great  anxiety.  He  could 
not  tell  Lillie  his  trouble.  He  had  been  for  months 
past  nervously  watching  all  the  in-comings  and  out 
goings  of  his  family,  arranged  on  a  scale  of  reckless 
expenditure,  which  he  felt  entirely  powerless  to  control. 
Lillie's  wishes  were  importunate.  She  was  nervous 
and  hysterical,  wholly  incapable  of  listening  to  reason ; 
and  the  least  attempt  to  bring  her  to  change  any  of  her 
arrangements,  or  to  restrict  any  of  her  pleasures,  brought 
tears  and  faintings  and  distresses  and  scenes  of  domes 
tic  confusion  which  he  shrank  from.  He  often  tried  to 
set  before  her  the  possibility  that  they  might  be  obliged, 
for  a  time  at  least,  to  live  in  a  different  manner ;  but 
she  always  resisted  every  such  supposition  as  so  fright 
ful,  so  dreadful,  that  he  was  utterly  discouraged,  and 
put  off  and  off,  hoping  that  the  evil  day  never  might 
arrive. 

But  it  did  come  at  last.  One  morning,  when  he  re 
ceived  by  mail  the  tidings  of  the  failure  of  the  great 
house  of  Clapham  &  Co.,  he  knew  that  the  time  had 
come  when  the  thing  could  no  longer  be  staved  off. 
He  was  an  indorser  to  a  large  amount  on  the  paper  of 
this  house  ;  and  the  crisis  was  inevitable. 

It  was  inevitable  also  that  he  must  acquaint  Lillie 
with  the  state  of  his  circumstances ;  for  she  was  going 
on  with  large  arrangements  and  calculations  for  a  New- 


CHECKMATE.  307 

port  campaign,  and  sending  the  usual  orders  to  New 
York,  to  her  milliner  and  dressmaker,  for  her  summer 
outfit.  It  was  a  cruel  thing  for  him  to  be  obliged  to 
interrupt  all  this  ;  for  she  seemed  perfectly  cheerful  and 
happy  in  it,  as  she  always  was  when  preparing  to  go  on 
a  pleasure-seeking  expedition.  But  it  could  not  be. 
All  this  luxury  and  indulgence  must  be  cut  off  at  a 
stroke.  He  must  tell  her  that  she  could  not  go  to  New 
port  ;  that  there  was  no  money  for  new  dresses  or  new 
finery ;  that  they  should  probably  be  obliged  to  move 
out  of  their  elegant  house,  and  take  a  smaller  one,  and 
practise  for  some  time  a  rigid  economy. 

John  came  into  Lillie's  elegant  apartments,  which 
glittered  like  a  tulip-bed  with  many  colored  sashes  and 
ribbons,  with  sheeny  silks  and  misty  laces,  laid  out  in 
order  to  be  surveyed  before  packing. 

"  Gracious  me,  John !  what  on  earth  is  the  matter 
with  you  to-day?  How  perfectly  awful  and  solemn 
you  do  look ! " 

"  I  have  had  bad  news,  this  morning,  Lillie,  which  I 
must  tell  you." 

"  Oh,  dear  me,  John !  what  is  the  matter  ?  Nobody 
is  dead,  I  hope ! " 

"  No,  Lillie ;  but  I  am  afraid  you  will  have  to  give 
up  your  Newport  journey." 

"  Gracious,  goodness,  John !  what  for  ?  " 

"  To  say  the  truth,  Lillie,  I  cannot  afford  it." 

"  Can't  afford  it  ?  Why  not  ?  Why,  John,  what  is 
the  matter  ?  " 

"Well,  Lillie,  just  read  this  letter!" 


308  PfNK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

Lillie  took  it,  and  read  it  with  her  hands  trembling. 

"  Well,  dear  me,  John !  I  don't  see  any  thing  in  this 
letter.  If  they  have  failed,  I  don't  see  what  that  is  to 
you ! " 

"  But,  Lillie,  I  am  indorser  for  them." 

"How  very  silly  of  you,  John!  What  made  you 
indorse  for  them?  Now  that  is  too  bad;  it  just  makes 
me  perfectly  miserable  to  think  of  such  things.  I  know 
I  should  not  have  done  so ;  but  I  don't  see  why  you 
need  pay  it.  It  is  their  business,  anyhow." 

"  But,  Lillie,  I  shall  have  to  pay  it.  It  is  a  matter 
of  honor  and  honesty  to  do  it ;  because  I  engaged  to 
do  it." 

"Well,  I  don't  see  why  that  should  be!  It  isn't 
your  debt ;  it  is  their  debt:  and  why  need  you  do  it? 
I  am  sure  Dick  Follingsbee  said  that  there  were  ways 
in  which  people  could  put  their  property  out  of  their 
hands  when  they  got  caught  in  such  scrapes  as  this. 
Dick  knows  just  how  to  manage.  He  told  me  of  plenty 
of  people  that  had  done  that,  who  were  living  splendidly, 
and  who  were  received  everywhere ;  and  people  thought 
just  as  much  of  them." 

"  O  Lillie,  Lillie !  my  child,"  said  John ;  "  you  don't 
know  any  thing  of  what  you  are  talking  about !  That 
would  be  dishonorable,  and  wholly  out  of  the  question. 
No,  Lillie  dear,  the  fact  is,"  he  said,  with  a  great  gulp, 
and  a  deep  sigh,  —  "  the  fact  is,  I  have  failed  ;  but  I  am 
going  to  fail  honestly.  If  I  have  nothing  else  left,  I 
will  have  my  honor  and  my  conscience.  But  we  shall 
have  to  give  up  this  house,  and  move  into  a  smaller  one. 


CHECKMATE.  309 

Every  thing  will  have  to  be  given  up  to  the  creditors  to 
settle  the  business.  And  then,  when  all  is  arranged,  we 
must  try  to  live  economically  some  way ;  and  perhaps 
we  can  make  it  up  again.  But  you  see,  dear,  there  can 
be  no  more  of  this  kind  of  expenses  at  present,"  he  said, 
pointing  to  the  dresses  and  jewelry  on  the  bed. 

"  Well,  John,  I  am  sure  I  had  rather  die ! "  said  Lillie, 
gathering  herself  into  a  little  white  heap,  and  tumbling 
into  the  middle  of  the  bed.  "  I  am  sure  if  we  have  got 
to  rub  and  scrub  and  starve  so,  I  had  rather  die  and 
done  with  it ;  and  I  hope  I  shall." 

John  crossed  his  arms,  and  looked  gloomily  out  of 
the  window. 

"  Perhaps  you  had  better,"  he  said.  "  I  am  sure  I 
should  be  glad  to." 

"  Yes,  I  dare  say ! "  said  Lillie ;  "  that  is  all  you  care 
for  me.  Now  there  is  Dick  Follingsbee,  he  would  be 
taking  care  of  his  wife.  Why,  he  has  failed  three  or  four 
times,  and  always  come  out  richer  than  he  was  before ! " 

"  He  is  a  swindler  and  a  rascal ! "  said  John ;  "  that  is 
what  he  is." 

"I  don't  care  if  he  is,"  said  Lillie,  sobbing.  "His 
wife  has  good  times,  and  goes  into  the  very  first  society 
in  New  York.  People  don't  care,  so  long  as  you  are 
rich,  what  you  do.  Well,  I  am  sure  I  can't  do  any 
thing  about  it.  I  don't  know  how  to  live  without  money, 
—  that's  a  fact!  and  I  can't  learn.  I  suppose  you 
would  be  glad  to  see  me  rubbing  around  in  old  calico 
dresses,  wouldn't  you  ?  and  keeping  only  one  girl,  and 
going  into  the  kitchen,  like  Miss  Dotty  Peabody  ?  I 


310  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

think  I  see  myself !  And  all  just  for  one  of  your  Quix 
otic  notions,  when  you  might  just  as  well  keep  all  your 
money  as  not.  That  is  what  it  is  to  marry  a  reformer ! 
I  never  have  had  any  peace  of  my  life  on  account  of 
your  conscience,  always  something  or  other  turning  up 
that  you  can't  act  like  anybody  else.  I  should  think, 
at  least,  you  might  have  contrived  to  settle  this  place 
on  me  and  poor  little  Lillie,  that  we  might  have  a  house 
to  put  our  heads  in." 

"  Lillie,  Lillie,"  said  John,  "  this  is  too  much !  Don't 
you  think  that  JT suffer  at  all?" 

"  I  don't  see  that  you  do,"  said  Lillie,  sobbing.  "  I 
dare  say  you  are  glad  of  it ;  it  is  just  like  you.  Oh, 
dear,  I  wish  I  had  never  been  married ! " 

"  I  certainly  do,"  said  John,  fervently. 

"  I  suppose  so.  You  see,  it  is  nothing  to  you  men ; 
you  don't  care  any  thing  about  these  things.  If  you 
can  get  a  musty  old  corner  and  your  books,  you  are 
perfectly  satisfied ;  and  you  don't  know  when  things 
are  pretty,  and  when  they  are  not :  and  so  you  can  talk 
grand  about  your  honor  and  your  conscience  and  all 
that.  I  suppose  the  carriages  and  horses  have  got  to 
be  sold  too?" 

"  Certainly,  Lillie,"  said  John,  hardening  his  heart  and 
his  tone. 

"  Well,  well,"  she  said,  "  I  wish  you  would  go  now 
and  send  ma  to  me.  I  don't  want  to  talk  about  it  any 
more.  My  head  aches  as  if  it  would  split.  Poor  ma ! 
She  little  thought  when  I  married  you  that  it  was  going 
to  come  to  this." 


CHECKMATE.  311 

John  walked  out  of  the  room  gloomily  enough.  He 
had  received  this  morning  his  check-mate.  All  illusion 
was  at  an  end.  The  woman  that  he  had  loved  and  idol 
ized  and  caressed  and  petted  and  indulged,  in  whom 
he  had  been  daily  and  hourly  disappointed  since  he  was 
married,  but  of  whom  he  still  hoped  and  hoped,  he  now 
felt  was  <)f  a  nature  not  only  unlike,  but  opposed  to  his 
own.  He  felt  that  he  could  neither  love  nor  respect  her 
further.  And  yet  she  was  his  wife,  and  the  mother  of 
his  daughter,  and  the  only  queen  of  his  household ;  and 
he  had  solemnly  promised  at  God's  altar  that  "  forsaking 
all  others,  he  would  keep  only  unto  her,  so  long  as  they 
both  should  live,  for  better,  for  worse,"  John  muttered 
to  himself,  —  "  for  better,  for  worse.  This  is  the  worse ; 
and  oh,  it  is  dreadful ! " 

In  all  John's  hours  of  sorrow  and  trouble,  the  instinc 
tive  feeling  of  his  heart  was  to  go  back  to  the  memory 
of  his  mother ;  and  the  nearest  to  his  mother  was  his 
sister  Grace.  In  this  hour  of  his  blind  sorrow,  he  walked 
directly  over  to  the  little  cottage  on  Elm  Street,  which 
Grace  and  her  husband  had  made  a  perfectly  ideal  home. 

When  he  came  into  the  parlor,  Grace  and  Rose  were 
sitting  together  with  an  open  letter  lying  between  them. 
It  was  evident  that  some  crisis  of  tender  confidence  had 
passed  between  them ;  for  the  tears  were  hardly  dry  on 
Rose's  cheeks.  Yet  it  was  not  painful,  whatever  it  was ; 
for  her  face  was  radiant  with  smiles,  and  John  thought 
he  had  never  seen  her  look  so  lovely.  At  this  moment 
the  truth  of  her  beautiful  and  lovely  womanhood,  her 
sweetness  and  nobleness  of  nature,  came  over  him,  in 


312  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

bitter  contrast  with  the  scene  he  had  just  passed  through, 
and  the  woman  he  had  left. 

"  What  do  you  think,  John  ?  "  said  Grace ;  "  we  have 
some  congratulations  here  to  give !  Rose  is  engaged  to 
Harry  Eiidicott." 

"Indeed!"  said  John,  "  I  wish  her  joy." 

"  But  what  is  the  matter,  John  ?  "  said  both  women, 
looking  up,  and  seeing  something  unusual  in  his  face. 

"Oh,  trouble!"  said  John, —  "trouble  upon  us  all. 
Gracie  and  Rose,  the  Spindlewood  Mills  have  failed." 

"  Is  it  possible  ?  "  was  the  exclamation  of  both. 

"  Yes,  indeed ! "  said  John ;  "  you  see,  the  thing  has 
been  running  very  close  for  the  last  six  months ;  and 
the  manufacturing  business  has  been  looking  darker  and 
darker.  But  still  we  could  have  stood  it  if  the  house 
of  Clapham  &  Co.  had  stood ;  but  they  have  gone  to 
smash,  Gracie.  I  had  a  letter  this  morning,  telling  me 
of  it." 

Both  women  stood  a  moment  as  if  aghast ;  for  the 
Ferguson  property  was  equally  involved. 

"  Poor  papa ! "  said  Rose ;  "  this  will  come  hard  on 
him." 

"I  know  it,"  said  John,  bitterly.  "It  is  more  for 
others  that  I  feel  than  for  myself,  —  for  all  that  are 
involved  must  suffer  with  me." 

"  But,  after  all,  John  dear,"  said  Rose,  "  don't  feel  so 
about  us  at  any  rate.  We  shall  do  very  well.  People 
that  fail  honorably  always  come  right  side  up  at  last ; 
and,  John,  how  good  it  is  to  think,  whatever  you  lose, 
you  cannot  lose  your  best  treasure,  —  your  true  noble 


CHECKMATE.  313 

heart,  and  your  true  friends.  I  feel  this  minute  that 
we  shall  all  know  each  other  better,  and  be  more  pre 
cious  to  each  other  for  this  very  trouble." 

John  looked  at  her  through  his  tears. 

"  Dear  Rose,"  he  said,  "  you  are  an  angel ;  and  from 
my  soul  I  congratulate  the  man  that  has  got  you.  He 
that  has  you  would  be  rich,  if  he  lost  the  whole 
world." 

"  You  are  too  good  to  me,  all  of  you,"  said  Rose. 
"  But  now,  John,  about  that  bad  news  —  let  me  break 
it  to  papa  and  mamma ;  I  think  I  can  do  it  best.  I 
know  when  they  feel  brightest  in  the  day ;  and  I  don't 
want  it  to  come  on  them  suddenly :  but  I  can  put  it  in 
the  very  best  way.  How  fortunate  that  I  am  just 
engaged  to  Harry !  Harry  is  a  perfect  prince  in  gener 
osity.  You  don't  know  what  a  good  heart  he  has ;  and 
it  happens  so  fortunately  that  we  have  him  to  lean  on 
just  now.  Oh,  I'm  sure  we  shall  find  a  way  out  of  these 
troubles,  never  fear."  And  Rose  took  the  letter,  and 
left  John  and  Grace  together. 

"O  Gracie,  Gracie!"  said  John,  throwing  himself 
down  on  the  old  chintz  sofa,  and  burying  his  face  in  his 
hands,  "  what  a  woman  there  is !  O  Gracie !  I  wish  I 
was  dead !  Life  is  played  out  with  me.  I  haven't  the 
least  desire  to  live.  I  can't  get  a  step  farther." 

"  O  John,  John !  don't  talk  so ! "  said  Grace,  stooping 
over  him.  "  Why,  you  will  recover  from  this !  You  are 
young  and  strong.  It  will  be  settled;  and  you  can 
work  your  way  up  again." 

"  It  is  not  the  money,  Grace ;  I  could  let  that  go.    It 


314 


PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 


is  that  I  have  nothing  to  live  for,  —  nobody  and  noth 
ing.  My  wife,  Gracie!  she  is  worse  than  nothing, — 
worse,  oh !  infinitely  worse  than  nothing !  She  is  a 
chain  and  a  shackle.  She  is  ray  obstacle.  She  tortures 
me  and  hinders  me  every  way  and  everywhere.  There 
will  never  be  a  home  for  me  where  she  is ;  and,  because 
she  is  there,  no  other  woman  can  make  a  home  for  me. 
Oh,  I  wish  she  would  go  away,  and  stay  away!  I 
would  not  care  if  I  never  saw  her  face  again." 


"  O  Gracie  !  I  wish  I  was  dead  !  " 


There  was  something  shocking  and  terrible  to  Grace 
about  this  outpouring.    It  was  dreadful  to  her  to  be 


CHECKMATE.  315 

the  recipient  of  such  a  confidence,  to  hear  these  words 
spoken,  and  to  more  than  suspect  their  truth.  She  was 
quite  silent  for  a  few  moments,  as  he  still  lay  with  his 
face  down,  buried  in  the  sofa-pillow. 

Then  she  went  to  her  writing-desk,  took  out  a  little 
ivory  miniature  of  their  mother,  came  and  sat  down  by 
him,  and  laid  her  hand  on  his  head. 

"John,"  she  said,  "look  at  this." 

He  raised  his  head,  took  it  from  her  hand,  and  looked 
at  it.  Soon  she  saw  the  tears  dropping  over  it. 

"  John,"  she  said,  "  let  me  say  to  you  now  what  I 
think  our  mother  would  have  said.  The  great  object 
of  life  is  not  happiness ;  and,  when  we  have  lost  our 
own  personal  happiness,  we  have  not  lost  all  that  life  is 
worth  living  for.  No,  John,  the  very  best  of  life  often 
lies  beyond  that.  When  we  have  learned  to  let  our 
selves  go,^  then  we  may  find  that  there  is  a  better,  a 
nobler,  and  a  truer  life  for  us." 

"  I  have  given  up,"  said  John  in  a  husky  voice.  "  I 
have  lost  all" 

"Yes,"  replied  Grace,  steadily,  "I  know  perfectly 
well  that  there  is  very  little  hope  of  personal  and  indi 
vidual  happiness  for  you  in  your  marriage  for  years  to 
come.  Instead  of  a  companion,  a  friend,  and  a  helper, 
you  have  a  moral  invalid  to  take  care  of.  But,  John, 
if  Lillie  had  been  stricken  with  blindness,  or  insanity, 
or  paralysis,  you  would  not  have  shrunk  from  your  duty 
to  her;  and,  because  the  blindness  and  paralysis  are 
moral,  you  will  not  shrink  from  it,  will  you?  You 
sacrifice  all  your  property  to  pay  an  indorsement  for  a 

-^yiA/v^v\ 

A 


316  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYEANNY. 

debt  that  is  not  yours ;  and  why  do  you  do  it  ?  Because 
society  rests  on  every  man's  faithfulness  to  his  engage 
ments.  John,  if  you  stand  by  a  business  engagement 
with  this  faithfulness,  how  much  more  should  you  stand 
by  that  great  engagement  which  concerns  all  other 
families  and  the  stability  of  all  society.  Lillie  is  your 
wife.  You  were  free  to  choose;  and  you  chose  her. 
She  is  the  mother  of  your  child;  and,  John,  what  that 
daughter  is  to  be  depends  very  much  on  the  steadiness 
with  which  you  fulfil  your  duties  to  the  mother.  I 
know  that  Lillie  is  a  most  undeveloped  and  uncongenial 
person ;  I  know  how  little  you  have  in  common :  but 
your  duties  are  the  same  as  if  she  were  the  best  and 
the  most  congenial  of  wives.  It  is  every  man's  duty  to 
make  the  best  of  his  marriage." 

"  But,  Gracie,"  said  John,  "  is  there  any  thing  to  be 
made  of  her  ?  " 

"  You  will  never  make  me  believe,  John,  that  there 
are  any  human  beings  absolutely  without  the  capability 
of  good.  They  may  be  very  dark,  and  very  slow  to 
learn,  and  very  far  from  it ;  but  steady  patience  and 
love  and  well-doing  will  at  last  tell  upon  any  one." 

"  But,  Gracie,  if  you  could  have  heard  how  utterly 
without  principle  she  is:  urging  me  to  put  my  property 
out  of  my  hands  dishonestly,  to  keep  her  in  luxury ! " 

"  Well,  John,  you  must  have  patience  with  her.  Con 
sider  that  she  has  been  unfortunate  in  her  associates. 
Consider  that  she  has  been  a  petted  child  all  her  life, 
and  that  you  have  helped  to  pet  her.  Consider  how 
much  your  sex  always  do  to  weaken  the  moral  sense 


CHECKMATE.  317 

of  women,  by  liking  and  admiring  them  for  being  weak 
and  foolish  and  inconsequent,  so  long  as  it  is  pretty 
and  does  not  come  in  your  way.  I  do  not  mean  you  in 
particular,  John ;  but  I  mean  that  the  general  course  of 
society  releases  pretty  women  from  any  sense  of  obliga 
tion  to  be  constant  in  duty,  or  brave  in  meeting  emer 
gencies.  You  yourself  have  encouraged  Lillie  to  live 
very  much  like  a  little  humming-bird." 

"  Well,  I  thought,"  said  John,  "  that  she  would  in 
time  develop  into  something  better." 

"Well,  there  lies  your  mistake;  you  expected  too 
much.  The  work  of  years  is  not  to  be  undone  in  a 
moment ;  and  you  must  take  into  account  that  this  is 
Lillie's  first  adversity.  You  may  as  well  make  up  your 
mind  not  to  expect  her  to  be  reasonable.  It  seems  to 
me  that  we  can  make  up  our  minds  to  bear  any  thing 
that  we  know  must  come ;  and  you  may  as  well  make 
up  yours,  that,  for  a  long  time,  you  will  have  to  carry 
Lillie  as  a  burden.  But  then,  you  must  think  that  she 
is  your  daughter's  mother,  and  that  it  is  very  important 
for  the  child  that  she  should  respect  and  honor  her 
mother.  You  must  treat  her  with  respect  and  honor, 
even  in  her  weaknesses.  We  all  must.  We  all  must 
help  Lillie  as  we  can  to  bear  this  trial,  and  sympathize 
with  her  in  it,  unreasonable  as  she  may  seem ;  because, 
after  all,  John,  it  is  a  real  trial  to  her." 

"  I  cannot  see,  for  my  part,"  said  John,  "  that  she 
loves  any  thing." 

"  The  power  of  loving  may  be  undeveloped  in  her, 
John  ;  but  it  will  come,  perhaps,  later  in  life.  At  all 


318  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

events  take  this  comfort  to  yourself,  —  that,  when  you 
are  doing  your  duty  by  your  wife,  when  you  are  holding 
her  in  her  place  in  the  family,  and  teaching  her  child  to 
respect  and  honor  her,  you  are  putting  her  in  God's 
school  of  love.  If  we  contend  with  and  fly  from  our 
duties,  simply  because  they  gall  us  and  burden  us,  we 
go  against  every  thing ;  but  if  we  take  them  up  bravely, 
then  every  thing  goes  with  us.  God  and  good  angels 
and  good  men  and  all  good  influences  are  working  with 
us  when  we  are  working  for  the  right.  And  in  this 
way,  John,  you  may  come  to  happiness ;  or,  if  you  do 
not  come  to  personal  happiness,  you  may  come  to  some 
thing  higher  and  better.  You  know  that  you  think  it 
nobler  to  be  an  honest  man  than  a  rich  man  ;  and  I 
am  sure  that  you  will  think  it  better  to  be  a  good  man 
than  to  be  a  happy  one.  Now,  dear  John,  it  is  not  I 
that  say  these  things,  I  think ;  but  it  seems  to  me  it 
is  what  our  mother  would  say,  if  she  should  speak 
to  you  from  where  she  is.  And  then,  dear  brother, 
it  will  all  be  over  soon,  this  life-battle ;  and  the  only 
thing  is,  to  come  out  victorious." 

" Gracie,  you  are  right,"  said  John,  rising  up :  "I 
see  it  myself.  I  will  brace  up  to  my  duty.  Couldn't 
you  try  and  pacify  Lillie  a  little,  poor  girl  ?  I  suppose 
I  have  been  rough  with  her." 

"  Oh,  yes,  John,  I  will  go  up  and  talk  with  Lillie, 
and  condole  with  her ;  and  perhaps  we  shall  bring  her 
round.     And  then  when  my  husband  comes  home  next" 
week,  we  '11  have  a  family  palaver,  and  he  will  find  some 
ways  and  means  of  setting  this  business  straight,  that  it 


CHECKMATE.  319 

won't  be  so  bad  as  it  looks  now.  There  may  be  arrange 
ments  made  when  the  creditors  come  together.  My 
impression  is  that,  whenever  people  find  a  man  really 
determined  to  arrange  a  matter  of  this  kind  honorably, 
they  are  all  disposed  to  help  him;  so  don't  be  cast 
down  about  the  business.  As  for  Lillie's  discontent, 
treat  it  as  you  would  the  crying  of  your  little  daughter 
for  its  sugar-plums,  and  do  not  expect  any  thing  more 
of  her  just  now  than  there  is." 

We  have  brought  our  story  up  to  this  point.  We 
informed  our  readers  in  the  beginning  that  it  was  not  a 
novel,  but  a  story  with  a  moral ;  and,  as  people  pick  all 
sorts  of  strange  morals  out  of  stories,  we  intend  to  put 
conspicuously  into  our  story  exactly  what  the  moral  of 
it  is. 

Well,  then,  it  has  been  very  surprising  to  us  to  see 
in  these  our  times  that  some  people,  who  really  at  heart 
have  the  interest  of  women  upon  their  minds,  have 
been  so  short-sighted  and  reckless  as  to  clamor  for  an 
easy  dissolution  of  the  marriage-contract,  as  a  means  of 
righting  their  wrongs.  Is  it  possible  that  they  do  not 
see  that  this  is  a  liberty  which,  once  granted,  would 
always  tell  against  the  weaker  sex?  If  the  woman 
who  finds  that  she  has  made  a  mistake,  and  married  a 
man  unkind  or  uncongenial,  may,  on  the  discovery  of 
it,  leave  him  and  seek  her  fortune  with  another,  so  also 
may  a  man.  And  what  will  become  of  women  like 
Lillie,  when  the  first  gilding  begins  to  wear  off,  if  the 
man  who  has  taken  one  of  them  shall  be  at  liberty  to 


320  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

cast  her  off  and  seek  another  ?   Have  we  not  enough  now 
of  miserable,  broken-winged  butterflies,  that  sink  down, 
down,  down  into  the  mud  of  the  street  ?  But  are  women- 
reformers  going  to  clamor  for   having   every    woman 
turned  out  helpless,  when  the  man  who  has  married 
her,  and  made  her  a  mother,  discovers  that  she  has  not 
the  power  to   interest   him,   and  to  help   his   higher 
spiritual  development  ?     It  was  because  woman  is  help 
less  and  weak,  and  because  Christ  was  her  great  Pro 
tector,  that  he  made  the  law  of  marriage  irrevocable. 
"  Whosoever  putteth  away  his  wife  causeth  her  to  com 
mit  adultery."     If  the  sacredness  of  the  marriage-con 
tract  did  not  hold,  if  the  Church  and  all  good  men  and 
all  good  women  did  not  uphold  it  with  their  might'  and 
main,  it  is  easy  to  see  where  the  career  of  many  women 
like  Lillie  would  end.     Men  have  the  power  to  reflect 
before  the  choice  is  made ;  and  that  is  the  only  proper 
time  for  reflection.     But,  when  once  marriage  is  made 
and  consummated,  it  should  be  as  fixed  a  fact  as  the 
laws  of  nature.     And  they  who  suffer  under  its  strin 
gency  should  suffer  as  those  who  endure  for  the  public 
good.     "  He  that  sweareth  to  his  own  hurt,  and  chang- 
eth  not,  he   shall    enter  into  the  tabernacle   of  the 
Lord." 

<S  «0iv  «*>N  fr^t-  A      frkfi*^*l,C 

u 


CHAPTER    XXVIII. 

AFTER   THE  STORM. 

r  I^HE  painful  and  unfortunate  crises  of  life  often  arise 
•*•     and  darken  like  a  thunder-storm,  and  seem  for  the 
moment  perfectly  terrific  and  overwhelming ;  but  wait 
a  little,  and  the  cloud  sweeps  by,  and  the  earth,  which 
seemed  about  to  be  torn  to  pieces  and  destroyed,  comes 
out  as  good  as  new.     Not  a  bird  is  dead  ;  not  a  flower 
killed:   and  the  sun  shines  just  as  he  did  before.     So  it 
was  with  John's  financial  trouble.     When  it  came  to  be 
investigated  and  looked  into,  it  proved  much  less  terri 
ble  than  had  been  feared.     It  was  not  utter  ruin.     The 
high  character  which  John  bore  for  honor  and  probity, 
the  general  respect  which  was  felt  for  him  by  all  to  whom 
he  stood  indebted,  led  to  an  arrangement  by  which  the 
whole  business  was  put  into  his  hands,  and  time  given 
him  to  work  it  through.     His  brother-in-law  came  to 
his  aid,  advancing  money,  and  entering  into  the  busi 
ness  with  him.     Our  friend  Harry  Endicott  was  only  too 
happy  to  prove  his  devotion  to  Rose  by  offers  of  finan 
cial  assistance. 

In  short,  there  seemed  every  reason  to  hope  that, 
after  a  period  of  somewhat  close  sailing,  the  property 

21 


322  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

might  be  brought  into  clear  water  again,  and  go  on  even 
better  than  before. 

To  say  the  truth,  too,  John  was  really  relieved  by  that 
terrible  burst  of  confidence  in  his  sister.  It  is  a  curious 
fact,  that  giving  full  expression  to  bitterness  of  feeling 
or  indignation  against  one  we  love  seems  to  be  such  a 
relief,  that  it  always  brings  a  revulsion  of  kindliness. 
John  never  loved  his  sister  so  much  as  when  he  heard 
her  plead  his  wife's  cause  with  him ;  for,  though  in  some 
bitter,  impatient  hour  a  man  may  feel,  which  John  did, 
as  if  he  would  be  glad  to  sunder  all  ties,  and  tear 
himself  away  from  an  uncongenial  wife,  yet  a  good  man 
never  can  forget  the  woman  that  once  he  loved,  and 
who  is  the  mother  of  his  children.  Those  sweet,  sacred 
visions  and  illusions  of  first  love  will  return  again  and 
again,  even  after  disenchantment ;  and  the  better  and 
the  purer  the  man  is,  the  more  sacred  is  the  appeal  to 
him  of  woman's  weakness.  Because  he  is  strong,  and 
she  is  weak,  he  feels  that  it  would  be  unmanly  to  desert 
her ;  and,  if  there  ever  was  any  thing  for  which  John 
thanked  his  sister,  it  was  when  she  went  over  and  spent 
hours  with  his  wife,  patiently  listening  to  her  complain 
ings,  and  soothing  her  as  if  she  had  been  a  petted  child. 
All  the  circle  of  friends,  in  a  like  manner,  bore  with  her 
for  his  sake. 

Thanks  to  the  intervention  of  Grace's  husband  and  of 
Harry,  John  was  not  put  to  the  trial  and  humiliation 
of  being  obliged  to  sell  the  family  place,  although  con 
strained  to  live  in  it  under  a  system  of  more  rigid  econ 
omy.  Lillie's  mother,  although  quite  a  commonplace 


AFTER   THE  STORM.  323 

woman  as  a  companion,  had  been  an  economist  in  her 
day ;  she  had  known  how  to  make  the  most  of  strait 
ened  circumstances,  and,  being  put  to  it,  could  do  it 
again. 

To  be  sure,  there  was  an  end  of  Newport  gayeties ; 
for  Lillie  vowed  and  declared  that  she  would  not  go  to 
Newport  and  take  cheap  board,  and  live  without  a 
carriage.  She  didn't  want  the  Follingsbees  and  the 
Tompkinses  and  the  Simpkinses  talking  about  her,  and 
saying  that  they  had  failed.  Her  mother  worked  like  a 
servant  for  her  in  smartening  her  up,  and  tidying  her 
old  dresses,  of  which  one  would  think  that  she  had  a 
stock  to  last  for  many  years.  And  thus,  with  every 
body  sympathizing  with  her,  and  everybody  helping 
her,  Lillie  subsided  into  enacting  the  part  of  a  patient, 
persecuted  saint.  She  was  touchingly  resigned,  and 
wore  an  air  of  pleasing  melancholy.  John  had  asked 
her  pardon  for  all  the  hasty  words  he  said  to  her  in  the 
terrible  interview;  and  she  had  forgiven  him  with 
(  edifying  meekness.  "  Of  course,"  she  remarked  to  her 
mother,  "  she  knew  he  would  be  sorry  for  the  way  he 
had  spoken  to  her ;  and  she  was  very  glad  that  he  had 
the  grace  to  confess  it." 

So  life  went  on  and  on  with  John.  He  never  forgot 
his  sister's  words,  but  received  them  into  his  heart  as  a 
message  from  his  mother  in  heaven.  From  that  time, 
no  one  could  have  judged  by  any  word,  look,  or  action 
of  his  that  his  wife  was  not  what  she  had  always  been 
to  him. 

Meanwhile  Rose  was  happily  married,  and  settled 


324  PINK  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

down  in  the  Ferguson  place ;  where  her  husband  and 
she  formed  one  family  with  her  parents.  It  was  a 
pleasant,  cosey,  social,  friendly  neighborhood.  After 
all,  John  found  that  his  cross  was  not  so  very  heavy  to 
carry,  when  once  he  had  made  up  his  mind  that  it  must 
be  borne.  By  never  expecting  much,  he  was  never 
disappointed.  Having  made  up  his  mind  that  he  was 
to  serve  and  to  give  without  receiving,  he  did  it,  and 
began  to  find  pleasure  in  it.  By  and  by,  the  little 
Lillie,  growing  up  by  her  mother's  side,  began  to  be  a 
compensation  for  all  he  had  suffered.  The  little  creat 
ure  inherited  her  mother's  beauty,  the  dazzling  delicacy 
of  her  complexion,  the  abundance  of  her  golden  hair ; 
but  there  had  been  given  to  her  also  her  father's 
magnanimous  and  generous  nature.  Lillie  was  a  selfish, 
exacting  mother;  and  such  women  often  succeed  in 
-  teaching  to  their  children  patience  and  self-denial.  As 
soon  as  the  little  creature  could  walk,  she  was  her 
father's  constant  play-fellow  and  companion.  He  took 
her  with  him  everywhere.  He  was  never  weary  of 
talking  with  her  and  playing  with  her ;  and  gradually 
he  relieved  the  mother  of  all  care  of  her  early  training. 
When,  in  time,  two  others  were  added  to  the  nursery 
troop,  Lillie  became  a  perfect  model  of  a  gracious, 
motherly,  little  older  sister. 

Did  all  this  patience  and  devotion  of  the  husband  at 
last  awaken  any  thing  like  love  in  the  wife  ?  Lillie  was 
not  naturally  rich  in  emotion.  Under  the  best  education 
and  development,  she  would  have  been  rather  wanting 
in  the  loving  power;  and  the  whole  course  of  her 


AFTER   THE  STORM.  325 

education  had  been  directed  to  suppress  what  little  she 
had,  and  to  concentrate  all  her  feelings  upon  herself. 

The  factitious  and  unnatural  life  she  had  lived  so 
many  years  had  seriously  undermined  the  stamina  of 
her  constitution  ;  and,  after  the  birth  of  her  third  child, 
her  health  failed  altogether.  Lillie  thus  became  in 
time  a  chronic  invalid,  exacting,  querulous,  full  of 
troubles  and  wants  which  tasked  the  patience  of  all 
around  her.  During  all  these  trying  years,  her  hus 
band's  faithfulness  never  faltered.  As  he  gradually 
retrieved  his  circumstances,  she  was  first  in  every  cal 
culation.  Because  he  knew  that  here  lay  his  greatest 
temptation,  here  he  most  rigidly  performed  his  duty. 
Nothing  that  money  could  give  to  soften  the  weariness 
of  sickness  was  withheld  ;  and  John  was  for  hours  and 
hours,  whenever  he  could  spare  the  time,  himself  a 
personal,  assiduous,  unwearied  attendant  in  the  sick 
room. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 


THE   NEW  LILLIE. 


"E  have  but  one  scene 
more  before  our 
story  closes.  It  is  night 
now  in  Lillie's  sick-room; 
and  her  mother  is  anxiously 
arranging  the  drapery,  to 
keep  the  fire-light  from  her 
eyes,  stepping  noiselessly 
about  the  room.  She  lies 
there  behind  the  curtains, 
on  her  pillow,  —  the  wreck 
and  remnant  only  of  what 
was  once  so  beautiful. 
During  all  these  years,  when  the  interests  and  pleasures 
of  life  have  been  slowly  dropping,  leaf  by  leaf,  and 


THE  NEW  LILLIE.  327 

passing  away  like  fading  flowers,  Lillie  has  learned  to 
do  much  thinking.  It  sometimes  seems  to  take  a  stab, 
a  thrust,  a  wound,  to  open  in  some  hearts  the  capacity 
of  deep  feeling  and  deep  thought.  There  are  things 
taught  by  suffering  that  can  be  taught  in  no  other  way. 
By  suffering  sometimes  is  wrought  out  in  a  person  the 
power  of  loving,  and  of  appreciating  love.  During  the 
first  year,  Lillie  had  often  seemed  to  herself  in  a  sort  of 
wild,  chaotic  state.  The  coming  in  of  a  strange  new 
spiritual  life  was  something  so  inexplicable  to  her  that 
it  agitated  and  distressed  her  ;  and  sometimes,  when 
she  appeared  more  petulant  and  fretful  than  usual,  it 
was  only  the  stir  and  vibration  on  her  weak  nerves  of 
new  feelings,  which  she  wanted  the  power  to  express. 
These  emotions  at  first  were  painful  to  her.  She  felt 
weak,  miserable,  and  good  for  nothing.  It  seemed  to 
her  that  her  whole  life  had  been  a  wretched  cheat,  and 
that  she  had  ill  repaid  the  devotion  of  her  husband. 
At  first  these  thoughts  only  made  her  bitter  and  angry ; 
and  she  contended  against  them.  But,  as  she  sank 
from  day  to  day,  and  grew  weaker  and  weaker,  she 
grew  more  gentle  ;  and  a  better  spirit  seemed  to  enter 
into  her. 

On  this  evening  that  we  speak  of,  she  had  made  up 
her  mind  that  she  would  try  and  tell  her  husband  some 
of  the  things  that  were  passing  in  her  mind. 

"Tell  John  I  want  to  see  him,"  she  said  to  her 
mother.  "I  wish  he  would  come  and  sit  with  me." 

This  was  a  summons  for  which  John  invariably  left 
every  thing.  He  laid  down  his  book  as  the  word  was 


328  PZ2MT  AND   WHITE   TYRANNY. 

brought  to  him,  and  soon  was  treading  noiselessly  at 
her  bedside. 

"Well,  Lillie  dear,"  he  said,  "how  are  you?" 

She  put  out  her  little  wasted  hand ;  "  John  dear,"  she 
said,  "  sit  down  ;  I  have  something  that  I  want  to  say 
to  you.  I  have  been  thinking,  John,  that  this  can't  last 
much  longer." 

"  What  can't  last,  Lillie  ?"  said  John,  trying  to  speak 
cheerfully. 

"  I  mean,  John,  that  I  am  going  to  leave  you  soon, 
for  good  and  all ;  and  I  should  riot  think  you  would  be 
sorry  either." 

"  Oh,  come,  come,  my  girl,  it  won't  do  to  talk  so ! " 
said  John,  patting  her  hand.  "You  must  not  be 
blue." 

"And  so,  John,"  said  Lillie,  going  on  without  notic 
ing  this  interruption,  "I  wanted  just  to  tell  you,  before 
I  got  any  weaker,  that  I  know  and  feel  just  how  patient 
and  noble  and  good  you  have  always  been  to  me." 

"O  Lillie  darling!"  said  John,  "why  shouldn't  I 
be  ?  Poor  little  girl,  how  much  you  have  suffered  ! " 

"Well,  now,  John,  I  know  perfectly  well  that  I 
have  never  been  the  wife  that  I  ought  to  be  to  you. 
You  know  it  too  ;  so  don't  try  to  say  anything  about 
it.  I  was  never  the  woman  to  have  made  you  happy ; 
and  it  was  not  fair  in  me  to  marry  you.  I  have  lived 
a  dreadfully  worldly,  selfish  life.  And  now,  John,  I  am 
come  to  the  end.  You  dear  good  man,  your  trials  with 
me  are  almost  over ;  but  I  want  you  to  know  that  you 
really  have  succeeded.  John,  I  do  love  you  now  with 


THE  NEW  LILLIE.  329 

all  my  heart,  though  I  did  not  love  you  when  I  married 
you.  And,  John,  I  do  feel  that  God  will  take  pity  on 
me,  poor  and  good  for  nothing  as  I  am,  just  because  I 
see  how  patient  and  kind  you  have  always  been  to  me 
when  I  have  been  so  very  provoking.  You  see  it  has 
made  me  think  how  good  God  must  be,  —  because, 
dear,  we  know  that  he  is  better  than  the  best  of  us." 

"  O  Lillie,  Lillie ! "  said  John,  leaning  over  her, 
and  taking  her  in  his  arms,  "do  live,  I  want  you  to 
live.  Don't  leave  me  now,  now  that  you  really  love 
me!" 

"  Oh,  no,  John  !  it  is  best  as  it  is,  —  I  think  I  should 
not  have  strength  to  be  very  good,  if  I  were  to  get 
well ;  and  you  would  still  have  your  little  cross  to 
carry.  No,  dear,  it  is  all  right.  And,  John,  you  will 
have  the  best  of  me  in  our  Lillie.  She  looks  like  me  : 
but,  John,  she  has  your  good  heart ;  and  she  will  be 
more  to  you  than  I  could  be.  She  is  just  as  sweet  and 
unselfish  as  I  was  selfish.  I  don't  think  I  am  quite  so 
bad  now ;  and  I  think,  if  I  lived,  I  should  try  to  be  a 
great  deal  better." 

"  O  Lillie  !  I  cannot  bear  to  part  with  you !  I  never 
have  ceased  to  love  you ;  and  I  never  have  loved  any 
other  woman." 

"I  know  that,  John.  Oh!  how  much  truer  and 
better  you  are  than  I  have  been !  But  I  like  to  think 
that  you  love  me,  —  I  like  to  think  that  you  will  be 
sorry  when  I  am  gone,  bad  as  I  am,  or  was  ;  for  I  insist 
on  it  that  I  am  a  little  better  than  I  was.  You  remem 
ber  that  story  of  Undine  you  read  me  one  day  ?  It 


330  PINK  AND    WHITE   TYRANNY. 

seems  as  if  most  of  my  life  I  have  been  like  Undine 
before  her  soul  came  into  her.  But  this  last  year  I 
have  felt  the  coming  in  of  a  soul.  It  has  troubled  me  ; 
it  has  come  with  a  strange  kind  of  pain.  I  have  never 
suffered  so  much.  But  it  has  done  me  good  —  it  has 
made  me  feel  that  I  have  an  immortal  soul,  and  that 
you  and  I,  John,  shall  meet  in  some  better  place  here 
after.  —  And  there  you  will  be  rewarded  for  all  your 
goodness  to  me." 

As  John  sat  there,  and  held  the  little  frail  hand,  his 
thoughts  went  back  to  the  time  when  the  wild  impulse 
of  his  heart  had  been  to  break  away  from  this  woman, 
and  never  see  her  face  again ;  and  he  gave  thanks  to 
God,  who  had  led  him  in  a  better  way. 


And  so,  at  last,  passed  away  the  little  story  of 
Lillie's  life.  But  in  the  home  which  she  has  left  now 
grows  another  Lillie,  fairer  and  sweeter  than  she,  —  the 
tender  confidant,  the  trusted  friend  of  her  father.  And 
often,  when  he  lays  his  hand  on  her  golden  head,  he 
says,  "  Dear  child,  how  like  your  mother  you  look ! " 

Of  all  that  was  painful  in  that  experience,  nothing 
now  remains.  John  thinks  of  her  only  as  he  thought 
of  her  in  the  fair  illusion  of  first  love,  —  the  dearest 
and  most  sacred  of  all  illusions. 

The  Lillie  who  guides  his  household,  and  is  so  moth 
erly  to  the  younger  children ;  who  shares  every  thought 
of  his  heart ;  who  enters  into  every  feeling  and  sympa- 


THE  NEW  LILL1E. 


331 


thy,  —  she  is  the  pure  reward  of  his  faithfulness  and 
constancy.  She  is  a  sacred  and  saintly  Lillie,  springing 
out  of  the  sod  where  he  laid  her  mother,  forgetting  all 
her  faults  for  ever. 


Cambridge :  Press  of  John  Wilson  and  Son. 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWEr 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  c 


LD  21A-50m-4,'59 

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